Breaking Down
by bossy
Summary: On their way to the next island set by their logpose, the Mugiwara crew faces some impasses: first, an unrelenting hurricane. Second, a lost crew member. Third, a found crew member who is no longer the same.
1. Chapter 1

Breaking Down

**A/N:** I hope this type of storyline isn't_ too_ overdone. Let me know what you think.

**Chapter 1**

It was the storm that had originally driven off course. They had been following the log pose until Nami spotted it and decided to try to go around it. It was clear a few hours later that there was no going around it. The log pose kept pointing right into the middle of the storm.

"We're going to have to ride it through," Nami announced. A few groans were the response she got. "Tie down anything that can't be taken below. And if you can't swim, my may want to tie yourself to the deck."

Luffy chuckled at that last statement, but he was the only one who found it humorous at all. With nearly everything tied down or stowed the storm came upon them with little preamble. The wind alone was enough to blow a person off their feet, but when rain was added to the equation it was close to impossible to get around at all.

"Check the ropes around the sails!" Nami was yelling. "It looks like one of them is about to break!"

Franky was the one to climb up and amble across to check the ropes but was not quick enough. One of the ropes snapped and the sail billowed out with a deafening crack, sending Franky out to sea with the force of it.

"Man overboard!" cried Ussop, scrambling to throw a preserver into the water. A rubber arm stretched out and snatched the shipwright out of the water. It wasn't the gentlest landing back on deck for Franky, but he seemed happy enough to be back on the ship. He threw a thumbs up at Luffy, who was tied to the foremast, courtesy of Nami.

"We can't keep this up much longer," Zoro warned Nami. She knew he was right, but the log pose was still pointing in the same direction.

"We've got to be getting close to the eye of the storm," Nami spoke aloud, though no one probably heard her. If they could make it to the eye of the tropical depression, then they could get a well deserved break while they rode the calm sea there before riding out the rest of the storm.

A giant wave took all of them off their feet and Nami started to doubt their chances until she felt the air start to stabilize.

"There!" she cried as loudly as she could, pointing starboard. Sanji, who was helping Ussop at the helm, heard her at least and directed the ship towards the steadying weather. The ship lurched badly to one side as they went against the waves, making everyone who wasn't tied down grab hold of something in order to keep from being pitched off the ship.

"The headsail is going!" Zoro shouted. Nami looked up to the foremast to see that the edge of the headsail was indeed starting to pull away completely from the yardarm. A loose rope was whipping around in the wind haphazardly, but somehow Zoro managed to grab a hold of it. Immediately, he was pulled forward about three feet on the slippery grass and he strained to hold it from escaping.

"Franky! We need you on the foremast!" Nami cried, but her hopes were dashed when she saw the shipwright tackling the shrouds on the mainmast, which snapping just as quickly as Franky fixed them. With half of their crew tied down to prevent them from being swept away, Nami knew that she'd be the one climbing the foremast.

"Robin!" Nami called. The historian looked like the weather was giving her a good whipping, but otherwise unharmed. "Lend me a hand, okay?"

The historian nodded and Nami grabbed some rope to secure the headsail, then began the long and slick climb up the foremast. She slipped twice, but each time an arm protruded from the foremast to help support her until she got her grip back. It felt like ages, but after five agonizingly long minutes, Nami made it to the yardarm. The skinny post weaved back and forth in the heavy wind and flapping of the sail.

Nami looked down to Zoro, who was straining to keep the rope and sail in his grasps. "How do I get out there?"

"Scoot!" Zoro yelled, sliding on the wet grass again. He immediately backpedaled in order to regain his footing.

"What?" Nami yelled back.

"Sit on your ass and scoot out there," Zoro explained, cursing that he'd let her go up there. If only he'd told her to switch places with Ussop, the job would have been done already. At least the cowardly liar knew how to move about on the rigging of the ship.

Still unsure, Nami straddled the yardarm and slid on it until she came to the first break in the sail. She knotted and retied it to the yardarm and moved forward to the next one. She praised her luck that there were only four that needed to be fixed.

The ship lurched suddenly and Nami slid to one side and nearly fell off the yardarm altogether. Four arms sprouted in time to catch her and pull her back up atop it.

"Faster!" was Zoro's advice from below. Resisting the urge to tell him where to shove it, Nami tied the next break in the sail as quickly as she could. There were only two left.

A brief glance at their destination showed that they were within three or four leagues of the eye of the storm. She'd tied the third break in the sail faster than the last two with that happy thought in mind. The fourth was the most challenging since it rested on the edge of the yardarm. Instead of only two ways she could fall off, there were now three. Ignoring that thought, she tied as quickly as she could while keeping her knots accurate. The last thing she wanted was to climb up again because one of her knots came undone.

"Stay there for a minute," Zoro called out to her, and she couldn't resist the urge to look at him as if he were crazy. Moments later, Sandai Kitetsu was embedded in the yardarm just inches from her leg with the loose rope Zoro'd previously been holding tied to it. "Tie that off while you're up there."

'He _is_ crazy,' Nami decided, watching Zoro run off to go help Franky. She was stuck trying to figure out how to get the sword out of the yardarm so she could reach the rope. As she reached for the handle, another arm sprouted from her hand and pulled the katana free, then retracted the blade back into her hand.

"Thank you, Robin!" Nami cried, untying the rope and then retying it to the yardarm. With all her tasks completed, Nami scooted backward toward the foremast so she could climb down and get away from the teetering and dangerous height. It would have been a lot easier if she didn't have to carry Sandai Kitetsu. Unlike Zoro, she didn't have a nice little scabbard to hold it in and there was no way she was holding it in her mouth like the swordsman.

Robin gave her an extra limb to hold the sword so she could climb down and Nami felt waves of gratitude to the woman who made her job so much easier. When she had both feet on the grass again, she turned to go thank her when the storm made one last ditch effort to take down the pirate ship.

A wave as high as their jolly roger came at them ruthlessly.

"Grab onto something!" Nami screamed in warning, lacing her arms into the lattice rope at the rail of the ship. The water beat down on them for nearly half a minute and swept all of them off their feet again. Struggling against the flow of water that wanted to drain of the deck, Nami looked up in time to see Sandai Kitetsu be swept away with it.

She dashed after it, knowing that she'd never hear the end of it from Zoro. Not to mention, she'd loaned him the money for that sword. In a way, it was like watching an investment be swept away. She dove and caught the handle right before it poured over the edge of the ship, grabbing hold of the railing to prevent herself from falling over.

Another hard lurch made that a fruitless effort. Nami tipped over the side sword and all, but caught a one-in-a-million break when Sandai Kitetsu sliced down deep in the hull of the ship and stuck there. Hanging on for dear life as the sea beat against her, her cries for assistance were choked away by the rain and sea water preventing her from doing anything but struggle to breathe. Zoro's face appeared above her, looking over the side.

"Just hold on," he told her as he tried reaching for her, but she was a good ten feet below him. He turned around and called to their captain.

"Luffy!" he yelled. "I can't reach Nami! Throw a hand over!"

Zoro looked back as to tell Luffy how far he needed to stretch, but both navigator and sword were gone, swept away into the sea. He stepped back from the railing a few steps, staring out at the gray sea as the ship gradually sailed into better weather.

"Zoro, what's wrong?" Luffy called, untying himself from the ship. Zoro didn't answer, simply scanning the tumultuous sea they left behind.

"She's gone," Zoro quietly replied. Luffy ran to the edge of the ship and looked over the side. There was a deep slit in the hull that would need patching so they wouldn't take on water, but no Nami.

"Go back for her!" Luffy yelled, turning to Sanji and Ussop. A deep crack was heard right before the mainmast split and pieces of it collapsed onto the deck.

Franky looked at his captain and knew what he said would not be well received. "In this condition, the ship doesn't have the maneuvering capability. We have to make repairs or we'll be beaten apart by the storm in minutes."

Luffy looked helplessly out to sea as the storm moved farther and farther away from them. And with it, their hopes of ever seeing their navigator again.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Wow this is shorter than I thought. Oh well. I'll be uploading more soon. Thanks for reading!

**Chapter 2**

"She was right. We couldn't have gone around the storm."

It was Sanji who made the verbal confirmation. Less than twenty minutes after emerging from the storm into the 'eye' of it, they spotted land. A lot of it. There were dozens of small islands dotted about and as the crew dropped anchor at the nearest one, they realized that the storm wasn't moving at all.

"I believe it is safe to assume that the storm is the result of the gravitational field of these islands," Robin commented tiredly. "In order to leave this place, we will have to pass through it again."

Silence overtook the crew again as they made what repairs they could to the ship. No one mentioned that Zoro had disappeared from the deck. Nor that Luffy was still standing near the railing, staring out to sea. Finally, close to dusk, Sanji called them all in for dinner. That, too, was a silent affair. Luffy didn't even have the exuberance to try and steal food from other people's plates.

No one looked at Nami's empty space at the table. Nor at Zoro's, since he had not shown up to dinner. After dinner, no jovial song and dance helped to pass the evening. Near midnight, it was clear that no one would be going to bed. Everyone had an unspoken hope that if they stayed up maybe, just maybe, they'd catch a glimpse of their navigator and tow her in.

A bleary-eyed morning came without the appearance of their navigator. Sanji called them all to breakfast and found that two chairs were empty again. His temper got the better of him and Sanji left the galley and headed down into the underbelly of Thousand Sunny in search of the swordsman.

Zoro was sitting in the men's quarters surrounded by three empty bottles of ale.

"Damned problem child," Zoro muttered. "Of all of them I could have sent up there, I sent the problem child."

"Oi, shitty," was Sanji's greeting. "Get up and put some food in your stomach. You're no good to us piss-ass drunk."

Zoro ignored him.

"Get up," Sanji insisted, nudging the swordsman's arm with his foot. "Be of some use besides a pouting piece of shit in the bowels of the ship."

"It's my fault," Zoro admitted. "I knew I shouldn't have let her go up there."

"Then who?" Sanji prodded testily. "Ussop? Then he'd be the one lost at sea. Face it, nothing you did sent her over that railing."

"She was chasing Sandai Kitetsu," Zoro bellowed. "_My sword!_ I could have climbed up there myself and tied off that rope but instead I threw my sword up there knowing that she'd have a hell of a time getting back down."

"I let go of the sword."

The two men turned to see Robin in the doorway.

"I was holding it as she climbed down," Robin explained. "When the wave hit, I lost my grip and the sword washed to the edge of the ship. If I had held onto it, she would have never gone over the side."

Watching Robin cry back at Enies Lobby had been rough. Yet now, as she shed a single, silent tear, it felt just as heart wrenching.

"And if I could have handled the helm myself, Sanji could have been helping you guys," Ussop said from behind her. Slowly, the crew filed into the men's quarters one by one.

"And I was tied to the ship," cried Chopper. "I couldn't even do anything!"

"I think it is safe to say," Brooke began, solemnly, "if anyone is at fault, that one way or another, we are all at fault."

"So let's do something about it," Franky broke in. "Let's search these islands one by one until we find her."

"We don't even know if she made it to an island," Zoro pointed out.

"Yes she did!" Luffy yelled. Everyone was surprised at the amount of force behind his words. "And we're going to find her."

Their captain stalked out of the room in such a mood that they were all taken aback a little. Chopper looked up at Ussop.

"Do you think she made it to an island?" he asked meekly.

"Yes," Ussop answered immediately. "Nami once told me that it was the mermen that taught her to swim back in her home town. If anyone could swim through a storm like that and make it to an island, it's Nami."

A smile touched the furry face of the doctor for the first time in over a day. "Really?"

"Yep. And that's no lie."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

One by one, the crew searched the surrounding islands in the next few days. A new wave of desperation began to set in though, when they realized just how many islands there were. They had already searched seven islands to no avail, but the problem lay in knowing which ones they'd already searched.

Each mini island had at least three others surrounding it and no real distinguishing features to discern it from the rest.

They floated in one steady direction (or at least hoped they did) in hopes of finding a populated island. When they finally did, bad news rather than good news was their greeter. No one in the small port was willing to help them navigate the small islands. And not because they were pirates.

"Them islands are cursed," was the repetitive reason. Followed immediately by: "Just give up on your crewmate. No one's ever survived that storm after falling overboard."

Needless to say, they were getting frustrated.

"There has to be _someone_ that will take us," Sanji insisted to their latest inquiry. The old man looked at them skeptically.

"Ye' lost yer crewmate overboard in a storm that's killed hundreds b'fore her," the old man summarized. "What makes her so important that ye' just don' accept she's gone?"

"She's our nakama," Luffy told him. "And we _will_ find her."

"Yer bloomin' mad," the old man muttered. "There's only one person dumb enough ta help ye' on yer search. The artisan Rubil. Lives on the rocks."

That was all the direction the old man would give them. They asked around some more and got directions to the rocks as well as odd stares for going to see the artisan. Rubil lived in a shack that literally was on the rocks. In a single file line, the crew scaled the rocks to the rickety shack as the sea lapped at them agitatedly.

"Oi! Rubil!" Luffy shouted, not bothering to knock on the door. The determined captain let himself into the shack as he hollered. "Oi! Where are you?"

Ussop peaked into the shack while everyone else stood outside. Truth be told, there was not enough room for all of them to fit in the shack.

"I guess he's not here," Ussop commented.

"Who are you people?"

Luffy burst from the shack as the others turned to the voice that had come from the sea. A middle-aged man with matted, pepper-colored hair and a matching, matted beard stood in a small row boat that sat just beyond the rocks.

"We seek a man called Rubil," Robin relayed. "We need his assistance and were told he lives here."

"You must be the pirates." the man guessed. "That's a very nice boat you have."

"Are you Rubil or not?" Franky blurted. "'Cause if you're not, we're wasting our time here."

"Aye," he nodded. "I am Rubil. But no doubt, you are still wasting your time here."

"We were told-" Sanji started.

"You were told I could help you navigate the pods," Rubil interrupted. "You were told wrong."

"Pods?" Chopper repeated. Rubil quirked his head to the side, obviously not expecting the reindeer to be able to speak.

"The reefs," Rubil said. "Those pitiful excuses for islands."

"You cannot navigate them?" Robin surmised.

"Oh, I can navigate them," Rubil told them. "But I do it for no one but myself."

"You haven't even heard us out yet," Sanji growled. "You don't even know what we are looking for."

"A lost crew member, no doubt," Rubil guessed again. "That would be the only reason to stay here longer than the three days it takes for the logpose to set. The villagers would have told you that there is no treasure to be found here."

"So you will not help us on our noble cause," Brooke summed up. Once again, Rubil was taken aback at the odd menagerie that was the Mugiwara crew, probably believing the skull Brooke carried on his shoulders was a mask. "May we inquire as to why not?"

"No, you may not," Rubil replied snidely. "Now leave this place. You'd do best to forget about your crewmate. They're as good as dead anyway."

"Anything you want," Luffy declared. Rubil looked at him with a questioning glance. "We'll give you anything you want. Just take us to find our nakama."

The rest of the crew were unfazed by this declaration. It was obvious that they felt the same way.

"Anything I want, eh?" Rubil repeated. "What if I said I wanted your ship?"

There was silence that was filled only by an audible gulp.

"Then she's yours," Franky broke the silence. "I built that ship to carry our nakama to our dreams. If we can't find our nakama, then she'll carry us no further."

Rubil chuckled, causing Luffy to bristle with insult.

"You think that's funny?" Luffy asked, ready to charge the man with his fists.

"No, boy, I do not think that's funny," Rubil denied. "But I do find humor in the fact that you truly would give me anything I wanted in order to find your crewmate. That is something that I greatly admire. The problem lies within the fact that the only thing I want in this world, you can't give me."

"Let's go," Luffy grumbled. "We're going to find her. Even if we have to blow up every one of those stupid pod island thingies after we've looked for her."

"Her?" Rubil repeated.

"Our navigator," Zoro supplied. It was the most he'd said since the morning after Nami had disappeared. "We lost her in the storm as we approached the islands."

Rubil said no more and the crew made their way across the rocks again, headed for the dock.

"We need to gather the rest of the items needed for repair," Sanji told them. "And provisions. I doubt we'll be coming back here."

"And cannons," Luffy added. "We're gonna find her, one way or another."

They agreed to regroup at sundown and set out first thing in the morning. Dinner came to see the table with only one missing chair as everyone ate heartily to replenish their strength. Franky kept watch as he finished repairs on the ship and roused the crew just before dawn.

"Let's go that way," Luffy decided, pointing somewhat westward.

"Can't go that way."

The crew, who had been standing on the grassy deck, looked down to the dock. A tidier looking Rubil stood there with a pack on his shoulder with hair tied back and a neatly trimmed beard.

"That's going against the wind," Rubil explained. "Best to go the other way and let the current do the work."

"Just a piece of friendly advice?" Sanji asked, lighting a cigarette.

"I decided that I want your ship after all," Rubil shrugged. "Payment upon delivery. If we find your navigator, you give me your ship."

"I can live with that," Zoro said.

"I agree," Robin nodded. Ussop lowered the rope ladder as the rest of the crew went about readying the ship for sailing. As Rubil set foot on deck, the ship set away in the general direction of the nearest pod.

"It'll be a half an hour or so before we reach it," Rubil observed. "Got anything to eat around here?"

"I suppose breakfast is in order," Sanji relented and they headed to the dining room. As each took their place at the table, Rubil tried to sit as well.

"That's not your chair," Luffy snapped. Rubil shrugged, looking about the rest of the table.

"You may sit in my place," Sanji offered, pulling out the chair. "I will be in the kitchen."

"As we wait for our meal," Rubil began, "I should tell you a little about this place. It is called Myrithia by those who live here, but I have heard those who have passed through call it the Ring Maze. It is a type of archipelago, but bigger than the likes you've probably seen. The size of it affects our magnetic field in such a way that a tropical depression that tried to pass over it has been caught and cannot escape the pull."

"That explains the hurricane," Ussop commented.

"There are one hundred and fifty-two miniature islands here," Rubil revealed to a slack-jawed audience. "Covering a distance of over one hundred and seventy leagues."

"One hundred and fifty-two islands," Chopper repeated in awe.

"Given the size of your crew, we should be able to search each pods in a matter of hours," Rubil approximated. "That will put us at four pods a day plus traveling time."

Franky was working out the math on his napkin. He did a double take at the result. "It will take us over a month to search them all."

"Does that bother you?" Rubil chuckled, pulling out a map. It wasn't nearly as clean and detailed as one of Nami's, but it showed the relative position of each pod in relation to one which had a red X on it.

"I have been mapping these pods for nearly thirty years," he continued. "If you are truly serious about your crewmate, no amount of time to find her should be taboo."

"It's not," Sanji assured him. "We will do whatever it takes."

"Good," Rubil chuckled. "We'll head in a straight line towards the storm wall, searching islands as we go. Once we reach the wall, the current will take us in circles and we will work our way inward. If she is to be found, your navigator will most likely be on one of those."

They ate breakfast quickly and found that after they were within a few minutes of landing. The island, like the one they'd first landed on, had beaches of white sand that surrounded lush vegetation that grew wild and tall around a small plateau.

They set out immediately with only one of them staying on the ship. Rubil was right; it only took a few hours to comb the entire pod. They regrouped on the ship with somewhat heavy hearts moved onto the next island. And the next. And then again.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Well, I'm conflicted. Nobody reviewed the last chapter but like 10 people put me on author alert. Um, either everybody is waiting to see what comes next to decide whether or not to tell me to continue or stop now before I make it any worse, or last chapter just wasn't review inspiring. Either way, now I present

**Chapter 4**

After nine days, Rubil told them that they'd circled the Ring Maze completely once. With more than thirty pods searched with no success, the crew morale was in the pits. Day in and day out, they searched pods that looked exactly the same: empty.

A week later, they'd circled the Ring Maze again. It brought the total of pods searched to sixty-four.

"We will circle Myrithia nine times before our search will be over," Rubil told them. "Though it seems like more, we have only searched about a twenty league radius. Your crewmate could still be within these islands we search."

The small hope did help, but at that point was only enough to keep them searching. No more smiles were seen and no one spoke of what was on all of their minds: their navigator could possibly be gone forever. The closer they got to the center of the Ring, the more they were going to have to admit that she wasn't coming back.

"She could be looking for us, too," Franky suggested. "Maybe she saw that the pods were empty and has been looking for one with a port like we did. She could be farther in than we think."

It was a fleeting hope at best, but after they'd circled the Ring two more times and brought their total of pods searched to almost one hundred, they needed _something_ to keep them going.

"I can't take much more of this," Ussop muttered as they climbed back on the ship empty handed after their thirtieth day of searching. The others looked at him in question.

"I can't keep climbing back on to Sunny after an entire day of finding nothing," he explained. "Not even a trace of her."

"You want to stop looking for her?" Chopper asked in shock.

"No," Ussop denied. "But I need something. A sign. Anything. I need to know that this search isn't in vain."

"There is no such thing," Rubil grumbled as he sat down and leaned against the giant foremast. "Thirty days and you're desperate for hope. Try thirty years of no hope and then I'll listen to your complaints."

"You are searching for someone too?" Brooke asked. Rubil grimaced as though he hadn't meant to give that away.

"No, I am no longer searching for someone," Rubil corrected. "I was looking for someone long ago. Now I look only for a necklace."

"Necklace?" Franky repeated.

"It is important to me," Rubil shrugged. "As was the person who wore it."

"You believe they are dead?" Sanji asked.

"After thirty years, I have no doubt," Rubil told them. "I have searched every one of these islands dozens of times and have found nothing. Not even a sign that she'd been there."

"She?"

Luffy spoke for the first time in days. It was a show of how much of a toll the search had truly been.

"I suppose I can tell you," Rubil shrugged again, sighing. "My father was a fisherman in this place. He and many others would ride along the wall of the storm and fish there. It was the heartiest place to find fish, but also the most treacherous. One day the storm sucked them in and destroyed the ship and drowned the crew. That was when I was but four years old.

"My mother did what she could to raise me," Rubil continued. "She worked in the village as a barmaid and we scraped out a living for a while. When I was old enough, I began searching the rocks for mussels. We saved enough money to barter passage out of this forsaken place when I was eleven years old when my mother sold her necklace to a local trader.

"The day before we were to leave this place, I stole the some of the money and bought back the necklace," Rubil told them. "She tried not to let me see it, but it bothered her to sell it. That necklace was the last thing we had left to remind us of my father. She was outraged that I'd done such a thing, but I told her that I could wait until we earned the money. I refused to let her loose the last bit of happiness she had.

"It took two more years, but we earned enough money to leave again. We set out on a Marine vessel that had braved the storm in search of some pirate named Roger or something. Unfortunately, they found him at the wall. It was a great battle that tore our ship apart and the storm blew apart the pieces and survivors. Last I saw my mother, she was swept away into the storm wall, never to be seen again."

"You looked for her," Robin predicted.

"I washed up on a pod near the wall," Rubil nodded. "There were no others on the pod with me. To my knowledge none of the Marines survived the battle. I sat on the pod for three days watching for my mother. I saw nothing. But on the fourth day, a boat came looking for survivors. They only found me.

"I begged them to continue searching the pods for my mother. They refused, in fear of getting lost among them and we went back to port. No one would help me search for my mother. They all told me that I should just give up hope and mourn her, then get on with my life. There was no use looking for her."

"Sounds familiar," Sanji muttered.

"I scrounged out a living on the rocks that I dug up mussels," Rubil said. "I used the money I earned to buy a boat to travel from pod to pod in, but I found the same problem as you. I could not discern one from another. I had no map making skills to begin with, but I knew I had to have an anchor point to know where I was. I used the port. I bought a book on map making and an eternal pose and began plotting the pods as I went. Based on the distance I travel away from the port, I know which pod I am on. That's how I mapped this place."

"You are very clever," Robin complimented. "Our navigator would love to meet you."

"Your navigator," Rubil repeated. "She must be of great value to you."

"Best navigator in the world," Ussop told him. "Wouldn't trade her for anyone."

"Then never again let me hear you whine about the fruitlessness of this journey," Rubil warned. "Or I will leave you to yourselves and let you try to figure out on your own which pods you have left to search. I do not waste my time with such rot."

With that, Rubil stood and retired for the evening, leaving the crew to themselves for the night.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Five weeks had passed since they lost her. They had searched over one hundred forty of the pods with no sign of her. Rubil told them that they would circle the port two more times before they had completed their search. There were no more comforting words to say.

In fact, no one said anything. If it did not pertain to the ship's course or searching a pod, not a word was spoken.

The last three days passed in silence that culminated into a tense homecoming back to the port. As the ship docked with the last light fading, no one moved.

"This is where I take my leave of you," Rubil said, tossing over the rope ladder. "Goodbye."

"No."

Rubil looked up to the upper deck where Luffy stood.

"You can't leave," Luffy denied. "We haven't been to every island yet."

"Yes we have," Rubil sighed. "All one hundred and fifty-two. We didn't find her."

"She's out there!" Luffy yelled. "She's not dead! You told us you'd help us find her and you're gonna! Set the ship out again."

No one moved for a moment. Zoro reset the sails first, then Ussop took up the helm and directed them back out to sea. Rubil tried to jump overboard but Robin caught him in a clutch.

"This is kidnapping!" Rubil yelled. "I told you, I've taken you to every pod! She's gone! She's not there!"

"If you took us to all of them, why haven't you found what you're looking for?" Luffy cried back. "Where is your mother? Where is her necklace?"

Rubil had no rebuttal.

"Did she drown all those years ago?" Luffy continued. "Were you wrong for looking for her for all of those years? Were those people who told you it was hopeless right?"

Silence. And then:

"No."

Very quiet, but a definitive answer.

"No, they weren't right," Rubil muttered.

"Then we haven't been to them all," Luffy said. "Now let's go."

Robin released Rubil from her clutch and he didn't try to jump.

"Where do we start?" Sanji asked.

"The wall," Luffy decided. "That's where we lost her."

They traveled through the night and first light touched them as they came upon the rain wall, passing the last pod.

"What are you doing?" Rubil asked, watching the pods fall behind them. "That one is the farthest out."

"We searched all those already," Luffy told him. "There has to be more of them. Out there."

He pointed into the storm.

"You want to break the wall and sail in the storm?" Rubil guessed. "Are you mad? There's nothing out there but a hellacious hurricane."

"There has to be more," Luffy refuted. "She's out there."

The rain hit them first. Then the wind was next, threatening to capsize them while they tried to raise the sails. Chopper wrestled the helm until Luffy relieved him, letting the ship be carried away by the wild current.

"What are you doing?" Sanji yelled over the storm as the ship began to careen and tilt with the waves.

"These waves carried Nami away from us," Luffy told him. "They'll carry us to her, too."

"If they don't kill us first," Ussop commented. He was right; the storm seemed to be trying relentlessly to take them down, as if it knew that they'd escaped the first time. The storm beat upon them for four hours before they broke from the storm to make a few repairs.

"I reckon that we've made it maybe a quarter away around the Ring," Rubil said. "I suppose by nightfall we will have made it all the way around. If the ship doesn't fall apart, that is."

"Like hell she will," Franky denied, and they were off again into the storm. It rained so hard that one could not tell the difference between the sea and the horizon anymore. For hours, the sea rocked them and crashed down upon them relentlessly. They were about to break from it again when the winds died down and only a steady rain fell upon them.

"We haven't broken the storm yet," Brooke observed. "But the weather is stabilizing. Why do you suppose that could be?"

"Land ho!" shouted Ussop, pointing straight ahead. Indeed, an enormous island, not a pod, was obstructing all other view in front of them.

"According to my calculations," Rubin said, "we have traveled half way around the Ring. But how is this possible? This island is in the middle of the hurricane's path."

"This has to be it," Luffy decided. "She has to be here."

"Make for that bay," Rubil instructed. "We can drop anchor there and search the island."

"This island seems much bigger than anything we have come across before," Robin observed. "I cannot tell for sure, but this island may be the size of the entire Ring Maze itself."

"It can't be," Rubil murmured. "That a place this big could exist parallel to Myrithia."

"This is going to take us days to search," Franky observed.

"We'll start with the coastline and work our way inward," Rubil determined. "You should determine now who will guard your ship. This is no place to leave it unguarded."

The crew looked between each other before Brooke raised his boney hand. "I will do it."

"We should establish a base camp," Rubil advised, "and start first thing in the morning."

"Why not tonight?" Luffy insisted.

"We do not have enough light left to start any kind of real search," Rubil reasoned. "With a full day ahead of us, we will be able to cover more ground."

Reluctantly, the rest of the crew agreed to Rubil's suggestion and began setting up a base camp on the beach. It was a restless night listening to distant thunder cracks and wild animals in the jungle. They had a brief breakfast and first light and set off down the beach.

For half a day they combed the beach looking for any sign of inhabitants, finding none. When Rubil turned them around and sent them inland a few miles, a light rain fell upon them, washing away any sign of tracks that may have been there.

"Tomorrow, we will head down the beach in the other direction," Rubil told them. "If we've still found nothing, we'll move the ship down the coast line and try another area."

They search that way for six days without result. It was the morning of the seventh day that they found a cove that looked to have signs of inhabitation. They could see it from the ship and they looked for a good spot in the cove to set anchor in.

"Let's go," Luffy urged, beckoning them impatiently from Mini Merry. They piled in and headed for the beach, but still about six feet out from dry land, Luffy nearly jumped out of the boat.

"I see someone," was his excuse, fighting against common sense and Sanji's grip. They all looked to where he pointed. Luffy broke free of Sanji's hold and jumped into the now waist deep water, wading out to the person who had emerged from the tree line and was spearing fish in the shallows.

Luffy could feel his chest tightening as he got closer. The person in the shallows was a woman. And, more importantly, she had red hair. Luffy fought the drain in his muscles caused by the sea as he sloshed quicker towards her.

"Nami?"

The woman started, still staring at the water at her feet and Luffy could see her muscles tense. She looked over her shoulder to the tree line for a moment, then returned her gaze to the water. He was close enough now that he knew it was her; her hair was a little longer and she looked a little thin but there was no mistaking the tattoo on her shoulder.

"Nami," he called again and she looked up, eyes wide with disbelief. "Nami!"

She flinched, dropped the fishing spear and backed up a little. He paused, and the crew did likewise. She looked over her shoulder again at the trees.

"Nami," he tried again, quieter this time. She faced forward but stared at the water where it rose at his shins and lapped there.

Chopper couldn't contain himself, sitting on Ussop's shoulders. "Nami, are you okay?"

She didn't answer, but made a timid step forward.

Luffy reached a hand out to her. "Let's get out of here."

She still would not look him in the eye, but at least was looking at the hand in contemplation. She took another small step forward. A sudden and loud wail rang through the air. Nami panicked and began backpedaling out of the water and onto the beach.

"Nami, wait!" Luffy called, chasing. He stopped dead when she turned around to run back to the tree line. She had something tied to her back and it was the source of the now unrelenting wails. It took him a moment to figure it out, but Luffy realized there was a baby strapped to her.

A thousand questions popped into his head and just as quickly disappeared to make way for the one that mattered. "Nami, where are you going?"

She stopped just short of the tree line, turning her head back to look at him, or at least, his chest. She looked torn, as though the decision to go with him was much harder than it should have been. So much so that she looked like she wouldn't go with him. He got within a few steps of her again, trying to calm the fright in her eyes.

"Let's go back to Sunny," he suggested. "You can tell me what's going on."

Her mouth opened and closed again, without sound, and Luffy began to wonder if something was preventing her from speaking.

"And what do we have here?"

The new voice startled Luffy a little, but that was nothing compared to what it did to Nami. She fell to her knees and bowed over until her forehead touched the ground. The infant strapped to her found this very unpleasing and began to wail louder.

"Useless woman," said the man emerging from the tree line. He wore a robe of deep navy and a funny headdress that reminded Luffy of a wild bird. Still, as funny as the headdress was, Luffy couldn't ignore the way the man berated his navigator. "I should have had you put to death when you washed up on this island."

Others were appearing at the tree line as well. All men, and all dressed in similar robes. The regal way they stood and looked down upon them reminded Luffy of something he couldn't place, but knew he didn't like.

"If Margol hadn't just lost his servant the day before, I think I would have killed you then," the head robed-guy continued. "Well. That's nothing I can't rectify now."

It hit Luffy. These people reminded him of the so-called 'World Nobles' at Saobody Archipelago. He _hated_ those people. Luffy was about to punch that pompous bird-hat guy to the other side of the island when another man, in the same deep navy colored clothes burst through the line of spectators.

"Gowen-sama," the young man called out. "What is the meaning of this?"

"Do you not see it with your own eyes, Margol?" Gowen asked. "Your servant was escaping. With your own son as it were."

"What do you mean, servant?" Luffy blurted out. "And she's not escaping. She belongs with us. We're her nakama."

"Nakama?" Margol repeated.

"This _woman_ belongs to our village," Gowen proclaimed. From behind him, Luffy could hear the rest of his nakama coming to stand next to him on the beach.

"Like hell she does," challenged Zoro, standing at Luffy's shoulder.

"We saved her life," Gowen calmly explained. "Therefore, we own the life we have saved. It is our decision on what to do with that life hence forth."

"What?" Luffy asked. The way the guy talked confused Luffy a little.

"My decision," Margol interrupted. Gowen looked upon him with an outraged eye, but Margol was unfazed. "She was given to me so she is _my_ responsibility. She does what _I_ say and she goes where _I_ choose."

"Fine, Margol," Gowen snidely responded. "Tell your servant what to do and where to go."

"Stand up," Margol snapped. Nami flinched before rising to stand. Her head hung so low that it looked like her chin was touching her chest. The baby still whimpered every now and then, but for the most part was quiet. Margol lifted his hand and pointed down the beach. "Walk."

Despite what the crew wanted her to do, Nami walked off in the direction that Margol had pointed. Margol followed and was a little taken aback when Zoro followed them both.

"Where are…what are you doing?" Margol stuttered, more than a little unsettled by Zoro.

"I'm not letting her out of my sight again," Zoro stated. "Where she goes, I go."

Though it didn't please him, Margol didn't argue and with a wave urged Nami onward. Luffy watched them until they disappeared around the foliage and turned back to the bird-head.

"She's going with us," Luffy told him, standing upright. "We don't care if we have to fight you for her."

Gowen smiled a venom-filled smile.

"I will let her go with you freely," Gowen announced, still smiling. "_If_ she says she wants to."

Luffy cocked his head to the side in confusion. All she had to do was say she wanted to go? That was too easy. Still not convinced, Luffy walked down the beach with the rest of his nakama in tow save Franky, who went back to Mini Merry and steered her down the beach.

It was the better part of ten minutes when they stopped walking because they had come upon Zoro. Alone.

"We're leaving," he announced, wading out to Mini Merry.

"But--" Luffy began.

"Get on the boat or I'll tie your limbs in a knot and throw you on myself," Zoro warned him. He then turned to Sanji and jutted his chin at him. Sanji nodded and also got into Mini Merry.

"And what's this?" Gowen chuckled. "You are giving up so easily on your so-called nakama?"

Luffy tried to charge but the water and Sanji's grip deterred him as the others climbed into Mini Merry in confusion.

"It is for the best," Gowen continued. "Your nakama would not have gone with you. I doubt she even has the capacity to cough aloud."

"I'm gonna punch you into the next magnetic field!" Luffy yelled as Robin put him into a clutch and Sanji and Zoro helped hold him down.

"Set the ship out, Brooke," Zoro yelled. "Make for the hurricane."

"We can't leave!" Luffy yelled. "She's still here."

It took Franky, Sanji, and Zoro in addition to Robin's clutch to get Luffy into the channel. He fought ferociously with them, cursing and screaming the whole time. Zoro directed them to put him into Channel Four with him and to close the door.

"I know you don't like my decision to leave," Zoro started as Luffy came at him in a rage. "But we had to leave."

"Why did you leave her there?" Luffy yelled. "We have to get her back."

Gear Three was not something Zoro could keep up with using only two swords, not to mention as he wasn't trying to actually hurt Luffy. Just get him to let off a little steam. And he was doing just that. Red limbs seemed to smoke as Luffy threw punches and kicks at Zoro.

"I did it because we needed to leave before they got back to the village," Zoro grunted with effort as he tried to stave off Luffy's attacks. "If they pursue us, they'll lose us in the storm."

Luffy got his arms around Zoro's neck in a choke hold and was slowly taking away his oxygen.

"Why didn't you fight for her?" Luffy spat as Zoro slowly lost strength.

A loud wail from a baby caused Luffy to start. He dropped Zoro, who started to cough heavily and turned around to the open Channel doorway. Nami stood there, the baby in her arms, looking at the scene in half horror and half fear.

"He did not fight for her because he did not have to," Margol explained, standing behind her. "I brought her here in exchange for passage through the hurricane for myself and my child."

"He said he doesn't want to keep her as a slave," Zoro ground out, still panting for air. "And she wouldn't get on the ship without him."

Luffy stood a few feet in front of her, watching her attend and play with the baby. She still wouldn't look him in the eyes nor had she made a sound.

"Nami," he said, reaching a hand out to her. She flinched back a step. "Why are you afraid of me?"

"She's not going to answer you," Margol sighed quietly. "It's been many days since she's said anything at all. But when she got here, she kept saying something over and over. It was that word you used earlier, 'nakama.'"

"What did you do to her?" Luffy raged again, running at Margol and lifting him by his shirt against the wall. A soft, feather-like touch on his arm made him look there. Nami's hand was lightly tugging for him to let go. Very slowly, Luffy let Margol slide down the wall and stand on his own again.

Before she could pull it away, Luffy clasped a hand over hers where it sat on his arm. Only for a moment, she tried to pull away. Margol reached his hands out and took the baby from Nami's grip and silently traveled back up the stairs from where they'd come.

Still clasping her hand, Luffy gently pulled Nami closer to him until he could reach out his other arm and take hold of her shoulder. She still stared at the ground as he leaned his head towards hers and rested his forehead against hers.

"I'm sorry I didn't come sooner," he whispered to her. Her free hand had reached up to clutch at his shirt as a flicker of light caught his eye. On the ground, dark dots hand begun to appear at their feet. He lowered his head slightly to look at her and saw tears streaming silently down her cheeks.

Probably a little more forcefully than he should have, Luffy pulled Nami into a firm embrace.

"I promise," he whispered to her. "I promise, I'll never let anything bad happen to you again."

She still didn't say anything, but Luffy didn't really need her to. Her arms slowly wrapping around him as well was enough. For now.

* * *

A/N: So they found her. Yay. More still coming. Thanks for reading.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N:** A shorter chapter but it sets up the rest of the story.

**Chapter Six**

Rubil wasn't happy that they'd left so abruptly.

"We should have investigated the island more," he argued with Sanji, who was wrestling the helm.

"Quit your bitching, old man," Sanji growled. "I do believe you now own a ship that can take you back there."

Rubil relented his verbal arguments but still looked to be ready to argue when they made it out of the hurricane belt. It took close to a half a day but they made it back to the port without any trouble. Seeing as it was close to dinner, Sanji told everyone to meet in the dining room to discuss their future.

"Lot of rotten good it does to have your ship if I got no crew to help sail it," Rubil grumbled. "We should have circled the island and docked in the cover of night and done a more thorough search."

"It would have been impossible," Margol interjected. "As soon as the village elders had discovered that I was not in the village, they would have sent out scouts looking for us. I believe that they would not pursue us through the storm, but it is still a possibility."

"And what's so dangerous about some indigenous island folk?" Rubil demanded. "They looked like farmers, not warriors."

"It is not the men you should fear," Margol explained. "It is the acasia plant. Acasia is a plant that grows on that island that was discovered to be very…influential."

Many eyes turned to Nami, who had taken up entertaining the baby again. It cooed quietly as Margol continued on.

"When boiled down to a syrup and given in continuous, small doses," Margol began, "it becomes a very powerful drug that leaves the person who consumes it in a state of unquestioning influence."

"Huh?" Luffy voiced.

"It's a mind control drug," Chopper reiterated.

"Kind of, yes," Margol agreed. "But it can only influence a person for so long. That's why it's given in several concentrated doses. After a period of a couple weeks, though, you no longer need the drug."

"What do you mean?" Ussop asked.

"After several days of repetitive reinforcement," Margol said, "a person begins to accept what was influenced upon them as the norm."

"Brainwashing," Robin interrupted. "You brain washed her."

"I didn't do it," Margol instantly defended. "Only an elder can do it. I am just a farmer."

"So slavery is commonplace on that island?" Sanji summarized, gnawing on the end of his spent cigarette in anger.

"Men have always been dominant since as far back as anyone can remember," Margol continued. "Women have been seen as servants to men, better to not be seen or heard."

"Is that why she won't talk?" Luffy demanded.

"Part of it," Margol reluctantly put forth. "The other part of it is the repetitive reinforcement."

"And that is?" Brooke prompted.

"Women who are born on the island are raised knowing what the rules are and what common place is," Margol told them. "They don't need the drug because they were raised in that society. But when a person, more specifically a woman washes up on our shores and has to be taught the new rules, they are…well…"

"Spit it out already," Luffy ordered.

"In order to reinforce the rules," Margol quickly muttered, "they punish bad behavior."

"You beat them," Rubil guessed, his tone very quiet.

"I didn't," was all the defense that Margol got out before Luffy lunged across the table and grabbed him.

"What's wrong with you people?" Luffy yelled as he pinned Margol to a wall and brought a left hook to his jaw.

"We don't have a choice," Margol spit out along with some blood. "The elders run the island with the acasia plant and we don't have anything to combat against that. Our choices are simply go along with it or become a victim too."

"Or leave," Zoro added quietly.

"Others have tried to leave the island before," Margol revealed. "They have always washed up dead on the shores a day later. Without a ship to take us through the storm, we have no hope of leaving the island."

"You keep saying 'we'," Sanji observed. "There are others on the island that do not approve of the way women are treated?"

"A few," Margol nodded. "We share the same dilemma."

"What dilemma?" Franky asked. Margol pointed at Nami and made a 'come-here' motion with his finger. Nami stood and came to him, lowering the baby into his arms.

"My first servant, Aiesha, died giving birth to my child," Margol told them. "She was denied treatment because she was a woman and died just hours after our baby was born. But before you jump to any conclusions, I loved her. I had loved her since we were children and I know she loved me too."

"How?" Rubil asked, not believing a word.

"Because she told me," Margol snapped. "Knowing what could happen to her if anyone else heard her speak aloud, she told me she loved me. And as her life drained away she spoke for only the second time in her life to beg me to keep our child safe."

"Why would your child not be safe on that island?" Robin asked. "Other than leaving the island, have you done something that would cause retaliation against your son?"

Margol sighed and rocked the small child as a quiet whimper escaped it. "Yes. I have."

"This should be rich," Sanji muttered, lighting his third cigarette since the conversation started. The idea that there was an island like this anywhere in the world made him sick to his stomach and more than once, he'd wanted to jump over the serving counter and throttle their stowaway as Luffy had once already.

"I lied to the elders," Margol continued, either not hearing or ignoring Sanji's comment. "I have hidden it well with the help of your nakama but I knew eventually a time would come when I would no longer be able to hide it. And then, the revenge would be severe."

"What did you lie about?" Chopper asked, curious.

"This child is Asha," Margol told them. "My daughter."

Silence filled the room for a few staggering moments.

"Dau-daughter?" Ussop repeated in a stutter.

"Something in your story doesn't make sense," Rubil diagnosed suspiciously. "Are you sure you've told us everything?"

"Yes," Margol nodded.

"And how often do people, namely women wash up on the shores of your island?" Rubil inquired.

Margol pointed to Nami. "She is the first to wash up alive in over thirty years."

Rubil winced, but continued. "And you are what, twenty-five?"

"Twenty-seven," Margol corrected. "Where is this going?"

"You swear on your life that it is only the elders that retrain those drifters?" Rubil confirmed. Margol nodded. "Then you are lying."

"I am not lying!" Margol argued.

"There are holes everywhere in your story," Rubil accused. "You say that only the elders perform these actions of brainwash but you seem to know everything about it."

"As the son of an elder--" Margol began.

"A detail you failed to mention before," Brooke observed dryly.

"I was offered a position of authority in our village," Margol defended. "When I learned what was done to these women, I was disgusted and refused the offer."

"And how did you discover that any non-male-dominant societies exist beyond your island if no one can get beyond the storm, let alone return from it?" Rubil continued.

"People have washed up alive before," Margol shouted, waking the baby. "I've already told you that."

"But not in your lifetime," Rubil shouted back. "Not until six weeks ago. So either you are lying about your involvement or you haven't told us everything. Tell us what you are hiding!"

"I am not hiding anything!" Margol hollered as Nami tried to take the wailing baby from him. He seemed irritated that she was trying so hard to take the baby from him that he finally grabbed both her hands and pushed them away. "I can take care of her myself."

"She was only trying to help," Chopper pointed out.

"It's part of what was influenced upon her," Margol explained, frustrated. "Women are neither to be seen nor heard and are to keep children in line and tend to domestic duties. She's doing it because she's been 'programmed' to do it."

"How do we get her to stop?" Ussop asked, watching Nami flinch at Margol's every word.

"Take her away from here," Margol advised. "And never come back. It will go away. Eventually."

"That's not gonna happen for awhile," Franky muttered.

"What do you mean?" Margol asked.

"We traded our ship for our nakama," Franky shrugged. "Gotta build a new one to leave."

"You still haven't answered my question," Rubil pointed out darkly. "_How_ did you know about life outside of that island?"

"I knew someone who once lived outside of it," Margol finally admitted tiredly.

"Who?" Rubil pressed.

"My mother," Margol bit at him. "Before I knew what happened to women who broke tradition on our island I used to beg and beg her to tell me about life when she was younger."

"Your mother," Rubil repeated, but without suspicion in his voice. "And she has died?"

"Nearly fifteen years now," Margol nodded. "I know it was my fault."

"This is," Robin interjected, "a lot of information to take in at one time. I suggest, with the shipmaster's permission—"

A few looks of realization at who was the new shipmaster were sent Rubil's way.

"That we reconvene tomorrow morning at breakfast after everyone has had a good night's sleep," Robin continued. "It will be better for everyone to have a clear head before making any life changing decisions."

Rubil shrugged and dinner adjourned silently. Still unable to calm his child, Margol finally relented to Nami to let her subdue the baby. It was clear in a few moments as Nami put together a bottle what the baby girl had been so upset about.

"I have to learn to do this," Margol was telling Nami. Sanji was still cleaning up dinner and Zoro had yet to vacate his seat at the dinner table, eyes closed and leaning back in his chair. "I have to learn how to take care of my own child."

With the bottle made and the child contentedly sucking it down, Margol took over the task of feeding. It was simple enough but being unable to speak left Nami at a disadvantage when it came to showing him how to do basic tasks.

"Now what?" Margol snapped as Nami retrieved the baby from him again. She lifted the child to a shoulder and patted her back softly until a small grunt erupted. She then put the child back in Margol's arms and pointed at the bottle.

"So, half a bottle then pat her back, then the rest of the bottle?" Margol guessed aloud. The baby quickly finished the rest of the bottle and as Margol stood from the chair he'd been sitting in Nami put the child on his shoulder.

"Again?" Margol asked, patting the infant's back. It was a little too rough at first so Nami quickly put her hands over his and showed him how it do it.

"All of this I have to learn in one day," Margol muttered, feeling the baby jolt slightly with a burp.

"How long did you give her to learn it?" Zoro asked, apparently not asleep and kicked back in the chair. "She's never been a parent before either."

"Women just know," Margol tried, but Sanji snorted in the kitchen.

"Parenting is a learning process," Sanji told him. "You're gonna make mistakes. But somehow, I think that baby will be able to forgive you."

"Yeah? Well, how am I supposed to make a living?" Margol shot back nervously. "How do I take care of a baby and find a way to make money at the same time?"

"She walked around with a baby strapped to her back," Zoro reminded him. "It's a start."


	7. Chapter 7

******A/N:** Sorry it took so long. I got writer's block.

* * *

**Chapter Seven**

Morning was only better because it meant the night had passed without any pursuit of the village elders. As everyone sat down at the dining table once again for breakfast, no one ventured to start the conversation, as though they knew it would once again become a tension-filled yelling match.

"I've thought about it all night," Rubil began, breaking the silence. "I no longer want your ship."

Stunned, the rest of the crew stared at him blankly.

"Instead, I want you to take me back to that island," Rubil demanded. "I'll only require the trip there. Once I'm on that island, I couldn't care less what you do. Leave the ring, stay for a while, whatever."

"They will kill you as soon as you step foot on that island," Margol warned him. "Not to mention, they're going to be waiting for you to return. It will be like walking into a trap."

"That is none of your business," Rubil snapped. "If I had my way, I'd have keel-hulled you the moment I found out what you did on that island and how you treat women. So consider it a wise bit of advice to stay out of my sight lest you want to make your child an orphan."

Margol went to an unhappy silence and Rubil addressed the crew again.

"Take me back to that island and I will consider your debt to me paid," he told them.

"Margol," Sanji said. "Tell me, is there anyone on that island right now that has washed up alive and is still alive?"

"No," Margol answered.

"She is not there," Sanji told Rubil. "Going to that island is a fool's quest. You won't find her."

"I know that," Rubil shouted. "I don't go there to seek a person I have long since considered dead. I go there for revenge."

"Revenge?" Franky repeated.

"I will never know if my mother washed up alive or not on that island," Rubil admitted. "But I do know that if she had, she would have been treated as a slave and likely tortured and killed like probably so many others before her. So, for my mother, others before her, and even your own nakama, I will kill those heathens."

"What can you do alone?" Ussop asked.

"Whatever I can," Rubil answered.

"If you would excuse us while we speak about our decision," Robin asked of Rubil. He rose and made his way out of the dining area. Silence once again filled the room as they all considered Rubil's request.

"I say let him do it," Zoro finally put forth. The others stared at him in surprise. "Like none of you have wanted to do, and even done something half that stupid."

Silence erupted again only to be broken by the baby burping. Margol looked pleased with himself for accomplishing as much by himself that morning.

"But I won't just leave him there alone," Zoro added. The others looked curious.

"I want to help," Chopper finally admitted. "He needs our help."

"Me too," Ussop nodded. "But I fear that I may be stricken with the can't-set-foot-on-land disease once we get there."

"We cannot take Nami back to that island," Robin observed. "She will have to stay here. And someone must stay here with her."

"I will stay," Margol immediately volunteered.

"You don't count," Luffy pointed out rudely.

"I'll stay," Zoro volunteered. For the third time in as many minutes, Zoro found himself being stared at again. "What?"

"How generous of you," Sanji quipped. "I should stay. You have no idea how to treat a lady, much less than one in her state."

"Screw you," Zoro responded. "Hey, I said I wasn't letting her out of my sight again until we leave this shitty hurricane hole."

"I would say that it is settled then," Robin surmised. "We should let the artisan back in and tell him our decision."

As Rubil listened to their decision, he seemed unpleased. "I didn't ask for your help. Just drop me within swimming distance of that island and be on your way."

"Nope," Luffy denied. "Don't want to."

"What good is it to have your nakama back if you're just ready to go off and die right after she returns?" Rubil demanded.

"Simple," Franky answered. "We don't plan on dying."

"You can't be that arrogant," Rubil muttered as the others grinned.

"Obviously," Sanji observed as he lit a cigarette, "you don't know that much about the Mugiwara Pirates."

.o0o.

Saying goodbye was harder than it should have been for Luffy as the bright sun peaked through the clouds lining the horizon. He knew he was coming back, but somehow he felt like he was abandoning Nami. He stood on the dock with her as Rubil gave Zoro instructions in case they were longer than a day.

"Nami," he said, trying to get her to look at him. The best she managed was to look at his sandals. "We're gonna be gone for awhile. Like a day or something. Me and the rest of the crew."

She didn't move. She gave no indication that she'd heard him at all.

"Well, Zoro will be here so you won't be by yourself again. But things will be better when we get back," he told her as the wind wisped her hair into her face. "We're gonna leave this place and get back to our dreams."

Her hair was hanging in her eyes so he pushed it aside and behind her ear. "Do you remember your dream?"

Again, no response.

"We're ready," Franky announced. Rubil was climbing the ladder and Zoro stood at the end of the dock with Margol and the baby waiting.

"We'll be back soon," he promised, then stretched a hand up to the railing and pitched himself over it. As the ship started out of the dock for the third time without its navigator, Luffy looked back to the dock. She was still standing in the same place, but she was for the first time since finding her looking him in the eyes. And he felt the bottom fall out of his chest.

She looked terrified as tears threatened to spill down her cheeks.

He wanted to stop the ship and turn it around, to go back to her. They could wait a few days before they would go back to the evil island until Nami was better.

"_She might not get better,"_ Chopper had told them the night before. _"Not for a long time."_

Regardless of how long it took, at that moment, Luffy was sure that leaving her behind was the wrong thing to do. No matter what anyone else told him, this was wrong. Nami needed to be with her nakama in order to get better.

'Turn around,' he told himself. 'We have to turn around.'

Before he could get the words out of his mouth, Margol rested a hand on her shoulder and her head dropped. She turned and walked up the dock towards Zoro and they left his view.

"Zoro'll take care of her."

Luffy turned to see Ussop behind him, and the rest of the crew not far behind.

"But just in case," Ussop added, "let's make this quick."

.o0o.

"Stop touching her," Zoro ordered.

The hand on Nami's shoulder dropped as Margol frowned. "She would have stood there all day."

"Yeah, well it would have been her choice," Zoro told him. "Not yours."

"I need her to—" Margol started.

"I don't care what you need her to do," Zoro interrupted. "She ain't gonna be here tomorrow so you better start figuring out how to do it yourself."

Zoro could almost hear Margol's teeth grinding.

"What must I do to prove to you people that I am not the enemy?" Margol muttered. Zoro ignored him and looked at Nami.

"You wanna stay here?" he asked her. Margol threw out an impatient sigh. Nami remained silent and despondent, so Zoro tried a different approach.

"You don't have to say anything if you don't want," Zoro offered, giving Margol a warning glance. "Just nod or shake your head."

A minute passed without response. Then two. Margol shuffled impatiently from foot to foot and finally could no longer take it.

"She's not going to answer you," he burst out with an impatient sigh.

"Go away," Zoro told him darkly. Margol said nothing but did as instructed and walked towards the town with the baby in his arms. Nami moved to follow but Zoro grabbed her arm. "You can stay here if you want."

She looked to be considering it. The baby let out a wail and Nami hurried over to Margol and followed him away from the docks. Zoro sighed in irritation, wishing he'd let the Ero-cook stay instead of himself and wondered if they would ever make it off the island with her tomorrow.

.o0o.

"Are we ready?" Franky asked as the light rains gave way and the giant island came into view with the sun almost directly over them.

"To liberate every woman on this island?" Sanji asked, lighting a cigarette. "I was born to do this."

"I see someone!" Ussop shouted from the crow's nest. Everyone looked to where the sharpshooter pointed and indeed saw someone standing on the beach. Instead of the navy robes they were used to seeing, this young man wore animal skins. He waved to them as a young woman appeared at his side carrying a young child. And then more people stepped onto the shores. Men, women, and children, all looking to them in hope.

"What do you suppose this is?" Brooke asked. "They do not look like they wish to attack us."

"They look like they were waiting for us," Chopper commented.

"It may be a trap," Rubil warned them, but Luffy had already launched himself towards the island ahead of the rest of them.

"Who're you?" he asked of the man he landed in front of.

"My name is Elos. This is Mina," Elos replied, stuttering a little at the odd way in which Luffy had made it to land. "We are friends of Margol. We seek passage off this island, like what you granted Margol and his child."

"Not now," Luffy dismissed. "Where's those guys? The ones who are jerks?"

Elos blinked a few times. "I'm afraid I don't—"

"The people who do the stuff with the plant!" Luffy shouted at him.

"The elders," Elos realized. "A few are in the village—"

"Let's go there," Luffy insisted. "Now!"

By then, the rest of the crew had made it to shore as well.

"Please," another villager pleaded, "grant us passage on your ship."

"Not now," Luffy repeated.

"Yes, now," insisted the villager. "If the elders find us here with you and we have not raised alarm, we will all be punished."

"Let me guess," Sanji hazarded, no compassion in his voice as he addressed the young man. "You will have to do the chores that you so willingly force upon these women to do."

"Yes, but that will not be the end," the villager told him. "Our women will be put to death and once the secret gets out—"

"What secret?" Rubil interrupted.

"All of us share a common problem," Elos explained. "We all have children that we claim to the elders are sons but are really our daughters."

"And they will kill us when they find out," the other villager finished. "Our children will be raised at the whim of the elders who believe that the number of women in the village should never outnumber the men. And at this moment, there are more daughters than sons in our village."

"Our daughters would be put to death," Elos told them. "We need help. We have no hope if you do not help us."

Luffy grabbed Elos by the arm. "We're going to the village. You guys get everybody else on board."

"You're going to just trust them blindly?" Rubil asked, amazed at Luffy's uncontemplative decision skills. "What if they are lying to you?"

"It's just as easy to kick their ass on Sunny," Luffy yelled as he tromped off. "Plus, we don't have to go far to find them."

"As you can see," Robin said, "it is very hard to argue with our Captain's logic."

"But I don't have to like it," Rubil muttered.

Meanwhile, Luffy had finally let Elos lead the way to the village.

"It is near midday," Elos was explaining, "so the elders will be in the sweat room at the center of the village. The rest of the villagers will be out scouting for you and your crew. There should be little resistance to hinder you."

Luffy wasn't listening. He had caught sight of a navy colored robe in a clearing in front of them and was already running on ahead. He broke through the trees and tackled the man he had spotted from the trees and immediately clocked him in the jaw.

The man fell unconscious from the single blow, so Luffy moved on to the next target: anyone in a navy robe. One of them saw him coming and tried to raise an alarm but much to Luffy's surprise, he also went down with one punch. Where were all the strong people in this village? Somewhere in the background, he could hear Elos telling him to head to the center of the village towards the smokestack.

Luffy followed the billowing smoke to the largest hut in the village and burst into the dimly lit area.

"Which one of you guys is the peacock head?" he asked before setting loose his gatling gun punches against all of them. The commotion brought down the entire hut. "Come on, where are you?"

A few of the elders crawled out from under the remains of the hut but Luffy jumped out of the rubble and clothes-lined all of them. He inspected each man for a moment before he punched them out, literally, and became upset by the time Elos had joined him.

"He's not here," Luffy yelled at Elos, as though it were his fault.

"Who is not here?" Elos asked.

"The peacock guy," Luffy answered, looking around at the robed men again.

"Peacock guy?" Elos repeated, lost.

"The guy with the funny thing on his head," Luffy explained as he found one of the men that he hadn't actually knocked unconscious. He grabbed him by the collar and shook him. "Where is that peacock-head?"

"You mean Gowen-sama?" Elos asked. "I tried to tell you before. Only a few elders remained here in the village. The rest went on a quest through God's wall to retrieve Margol and his child. Gowen-sama led the group out yesterday and they have yet to return."

"God's wall?" Luffy repeated.

"The barrier of rain," Elos told him. "It is called God's wall because only those who work for God's will are believed to be able to get through it. That is why Gowen-sama led the group. Being the oldest and closest to God, he is the appointed leader of our village."

"So where'd they go?" Luffy asked.

"I told you, to find Margol and his child," Elos repeated, growing tired of Luffy's lack of ability to piece the facts together.

"Elos, I knew you were not to be trusted," muttered the elder that Luffy restrained by stepping on. "God's will shall punish you for your treachery."

"I do not believe in _your_ God's will," Elos rebutted. "But my God's will tells me that I must do what is right for me and my family."

"Your treachery shall cost you your own life as well as that what you call your family," the elder vowed. "Just like that slave girl of Margol's that stole them away from us."

"She's not a slave!" Luffy shouted. "She's my nakama! And ain't nobody gonna hurt her anymore."

The elder chuckled. "Are they on your ship, by chance?"

"No," Luffy denied. "I left her some place safe."

"Safe," the robed man mocked. "There is no such place in this world that could save her from God's will. It is only a matter of time before Gowen-sama and the others find her. The only question now is who shall get to her first: you or God's will?"

Luffy punched the man as hard as he could, hearing bones crack as the man fell unconscious. He then grabbed Elos by the arm again and ran as fast as his legs would carry them to the bay, determined to make it back to Nami before anyone else and finally take her as far away from this place as they could possibly get.

.o0o.

The baby had been crying constantly for nearly an hour as the sun started to set. Zoro was at his wits end. Margol was stubbornly refusing to let Nami help him tend the baby and it was costing Zoro more than just his sanity. Nami was pacing back and forth with shaking hands as the baby wailed, and as for the child, her cries were becoming more and more strained.

"Will you just let her help?" Zoro snapped. "That kid has to be dying of something to be making that much noise."

"You said it yourself," Margol crabbed back. "I have to learn to take care of my child on my own. _She_ won't be here tomorrow."

"Give her to me, dammit," Zoro commanded, holding his arms out. Margol appeased and Zoro soon had the armpits of the baby in each hand as the small child dangled there. Now that he had the kid, he was at a loss of what to do next.

That is, until the smell hit him.

"Holy hell that stinks," Zoro complained. "The kid needs to be changed. Couldn't you smell that?"

"I thought it was gas," Margol defended.

"For an hour?" Zoro argued. "That much gas can't come out of something this small."

Zoro handed the baby back to Margol. "Change her."

"I don't know how," Margol admitted, taking claim of the baby again.

"I'd start by taking the shitty clothes off," Zoro instructed. "Seriously, are you that dumb?"

Margol didn't rise to the insult. Instead, he looked terrified. Zoro was about to ask what his problem was when he felt a searing burn through his abdomen that he had felt many times before: a sword sliding through his gullet. Zoro looked down at the sword that protruded from his stomach and with a smirk of irony, he recognized Sandai Kitetsu covered in his own blood.

As Zoro registered that the attack had come from behind, he heard something he'd been waiting to hear for a long time, but not quite how he'd imagined it: the sound of Nami's voice.

.o0o.

Before the ship was even fully docked, the unmistakable sound of a young woman's scream permeated the air. Luffy instantly recognized Nami's voice and his stomach dropped. This was _not_ how he wanted to hear her voice again for the first time.

* * *

**A/N**: If you think this is a bad cliff hanger…you're right. And after such a long wait even. But I'm going to make it up to you. Next chapter is _super_ long and, in my opinion, _super_ good.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight**

**A/N**: I will apologize in advance if the way I formatted this chapter is confusing, but this just felt right when I wrote it.

* * *

_Forty-five days ago…_

The first thing Nami felt was a severe ache in all of her muscles. The second thing she felt was the waves lapping at her feet. She recalled in a headache rush what had happened. She remembered tipping over the deck rail and hanging above the sea with hold of Sandai Kitetsu.

The cold of the sea had surprised her a little as it thrashed her, being colder than the rain. In between choking mouthfuls of sea water, she had cried for assistance. She doubted she could be heard but somehow, Zoro's face appeared at the rail and fruitlessly reached for her. As she tried to pull herself up and closer to him, he looked away and shouted.

The shift in weight caused Sandai Kitetsu to lose its leverage in the ship's hull and before she could utter a word, Nami dropped into the ice cold sea. The rip tide immediately pulled her down to depths that she could not see in. She almost panicked, due to the burning of her lungs from lack of oxygen, but the rational part of her mind reminded her to keep it together and she began swimming with the tide.

After what felt like agonizing minutes of swimming, Nami broke the surface in the storm only to be pummeled by another wave. When she surfaced again, she glanced about for the ship. At first she could not see due to the swells of the waves, but when she did catch sight of it, the ship was far beyond her reach.

It grew tinier and tinier as the waves carried her in the opposite direction. She glanced at her log pose as she was swept away and it moved ever so slightly. Nami realized that the hurricane was not in front of their destination, but surrounding it. Their destination had to be within the eye of the storm.

Another wave submerged her and she nearly lost her grip on Sandai Kitetsu. She knew that she'd never survive the storm if she didn't break from it soon. The cold sea was stealing away what little energy she had and it was only a matter of time before her muscles gave out and she drown.

A temporary solution floated past her in the form of a chunk of wood. She swam for it quickly before the lighter item got too far away from her and clutched to it with tired muscles. As she caught her breath and rested some of her muscles she had a sick realization: she was holding onto part of the mast of Sunny.

What had happened to them?

Fear had panic threatening to rise again but she managed to keep her wits. Holding onto the thick chunk of mast, she began kicking in attempt to give herself direction. She knew the storm would get worse the closer to the eye she got, so she began kicking in the opposite direction that the log pose pointed.

She had no idea how long she kicked and swam. She took short breaks when her legs got tired but felt like every time she took a break, the hurricane pulled her back in the distance she'd travelled away from it. Losing hope of breaking from the storm, Nami let the tide carry her once again and simply clutched to the mast and Sandai Kitetsu.

Slowly, she could feel the grip she had on the mast slipping. Her muscles had reached their limit and her limbs were all but numb from the cold sea. Her grip faltered and she slipped underwater. Desperately, she pulled herself above water again. As she felt the rain fall lightly on her, she floated aimlessly with one hand still clutching the mast.

Then it hit her: she was floating. Not being pushed, blown, or crashed across the sea. And the rain had dissipated into sprinkles. She briefly looked around her and caught a glimpse of a large blob not too far away. What was left of her wits realized that it was an island and told her to swim for it. The last thing she remembered was doing just that.

Feeling the sand brushing grainily against her cheek and arms, she realized she must have made it. Opening her eyes against the pale moon light she saw one hand rested on the large chunk of hull that had washed up with her. In her heart, Nami thanked Sunny for saving her, and hoped it managed the same for the rest of her nakama.

Her nakama. She had no idea what had happened to them, but without the mast…

Her other hand tightened around something and she turned her head very painstakingly to see Sandai Kitetsu.

Her nakama were fine. They had been through worse many times before. With that thought in mind, Nami closed her eyes again and let unconsciousness take over again for the time being.

_Presently…_

Nami was screaming. It was ear piercing and loud, but still a blessing to hear. Until Zoro realized that she was screaming in fear of what was behind him.

Just as quickly as it had appeared in his gullet, the sword disappeared from Zoro's view again and left a bleeding hole as the only indication that it had been there. He drew his remaining two swords as he turned to face his attacker and faltered.

Gowen, the man who had worn the funny headdress faced him. He was flanked by four other men but instead of the navy robes Zoro'd seen them in before, they wore animal skins in beige tones that made them appear less flashy and noticeable.

"I will recognize that you have much bravery for crossing through the storm and stealing away those that belong to our village," Gowen said, "but we are not ones to be trifled with. Revenge shall be swift and severe."

The other four men with Gowen pulled hunting knives and stood in attack positions as Gowen moved toward Nami.

"You, vermin, shall not have the luxury of dying so swiftly," Gowen told her. Nami was frozen in place with fear and was nearly hyperventilating. "No. God's will says that I shall take you back to our village and hang you from the trees covered in sap and let the animals have their way with you."

A cry from behind him caught Gowen's attention and he turned back to see one of his men fall to Zoro's swords. Gowen took the butt of the sword he carried and sent a blow to Nami's temple as hard as he could, knocking her to the ground unconscious.

"Yakeem, I will handle this myself," Gowen announced. One of the men bowed and stepped behind him. "Take Margol and his son back to the docks and wait for us there."

_Forty-four days ago…_

Nami was still sore. She knew she would be, but as she woke up, she realized it wasn't just from hours swimming through a hurricane.

She was no longer on the beach, but lying on her side on some kind of stone floor. Her hands were bound behind her using some kind of thin twine as were her feet. While she waited for her eyes to adjust to the enclosed space where she was being held, she heard voices outside.

"All others that have washed up here have had to be put to death."

Ice took over Nami's insides, hoping that none of her nakama had made it to this place before her.

"This one is still quite young. She could still yet learn and adhere to our ways."

"But who should claim her?"

"Tibolt, perhaps?"

"He is too young and still in the care of his father. Deados is a possibility."

"If Tibolt is too young, then by contrast Deados is too old. Assuming you are referring to their ability to control her as your reasoning to reject potential keepers."

"We shall give her to Margol."

"Ah, you are quite wise, Yakeem. Margol would be an excellent keeper."

Nami heard footsteps coming closer to her and just as her eyes had adjusted to the dark to show her that she was in some sort of hut, a cloth doorway was pulled aside and bright light blinded her.

"Good. She's awake. Fetch Margol and bring her to the sweat room."

Without explanation, Nami was yanked up by her bound arms and dragged from the hut.

"What the hell? Who are you people? And just what do you want with me?" she cried as her eyes readjusted. Men in long robes surrounded her. They all appeared older, probably middle aged. Instead of an answer, Nami received a slap.

"Silence, wretch."

Shock reverberated through Nami as she felt the sharp, throbbing sting in her cheek. The slap had not been a warning. The force it had behind it had been meant to hurt her and had nearly knocked her teeth out. Furious, Nami fixed the man with a heated stare.

"Like hell!" she yelled, struggling fiercely against the men who dragged her. From behind, Nami felt the instant searing pain of some sort of metal pole connecting with her spine. Instantly, her limbs felt like they wouldn't move as every nerve in her body throbbed at once and would not relent.

Slowly, the pain began to recede ever so slightly and she was put in the center of another hut, this one much larger than the one she'd been held in before as the robed men gathered around. As her eyes adjusted for the third time through tears that she refused to let fall, she looked up at a man that wore an ornate headdress.

"Listen very carefully, _woman_, for you will only be told this once," he began, spitting his words at her as though it was beneath him to say them to her. "This island is called Lytheria, and we Lytherians are the only inhabitants. For generations, our tribe has survived in a male dominant hierarchy, and no washed up scrap of breathing trash like you is going to change our ways. Nay, you are going to adhere to our ways. Or you will die."

Nami wanted to tell him she'd rather die but a long dead voice stopped her words in her throat.

…_as long as you keep on living, things will get better_…

"Women," he spat, pacing in front of her, "are blemishes. Imperfections in this world that are not worth the air they breathe. In order to continue to live, you will have to earn each day of life we allow you. And you must adhere to our ways."

Nami's breaths became shaky as panic threatened to take over. She knew she wasn't going to like what this man was about to say but also knew what the only alternative was.

"You will be a servant to a man," he continued. "You will do everything he tells you and nothing else. You will cook for him, clean for him, raise and bear his children. All this you will do and not utter a word or single sound again for the rest of your life."

A slave. She was going to be a slave again. Panic won out over her senses and tears fell down her cheeks.

_Presently…_

"Margol!"

Margol started as he stared at Yakeem.

"You heard Gowen-sama! We must go to the docks," Yakeem repeated. "Now!"

"I cannot," Margol said.

"What?"

"I cannot," Margol repeated. "I cannot take my son to the docks."

Yakeem seemed flabbergast that Margol would say such a thing to him and looked ready to clock the young man in the head when Gowen's calm voice interrupted.

"Give him your son, Margol," he said in a calm, steady voice.

"Why?" Margol asked with a trembling voice.

"Because you have betrayed the elders of your clan and must be punished," Gowen told him, walking toward Zoro as another of his comrades fell. "Give him your son."

"I cannot," Margol denied again, stepping back and trembling in obvious fear.

"Why do you not obey the words of your elder? Your father?" Gowen asked.

"Because I have no son to give," Margol answered, still pacing backwards. When his back hit the wall of a building, panic overtook him and Margol ran down the alley as fast as he could, clutching his child to his chest as it wailed.

_Forty-four days ago…_

"No! I won't do it," she cried. "I won't be a slave again!"

A metal staff, probably the one that had connected with her spine, whipped around and cracked her jaw. Blackness threatened to take over for a few moments but she blinked it away as blood filled and then spilled from her mouth.

"One of our ways that you would do very well to learn quickly," the man warned darkly, "is that women are forbidden from speaking or making any sound. Ever. Under penalty of death."

She couldn't move her jaw. She could tell using her tongue that she still had all of her teeth, though they were a little loose, but her inability to move her jaw made her fear that it was broken.

"Margol, this is your new servant."

Nami looked to the cloth doorway to see a young man standing there. He looked to be a few years older than her and held in his arms what could only be a baby.

"New servant?" Margol repeated tiredly.

"Yes. She washed ashore yesterday," the man with the headdress explained. "We will begin with the treatments this evening and by tomorrow she should be ready to begin serving you."

"Tomorrow?" Margol repeated again. The baby in his arms whimpered and began to cry.

"How is your son, Margol?"

"Very weak," Margol admitted. "He has not fed since yesterday…Since Aiesha died."

The man in the headdress beckoned him closer. "You shouldn't name your servants. It signifies an attachment that is unhealthy for you. You have a strong son, Margol. He will survive until tomorrow."

The young man named Margol gave Nami one last look of disinterest before retreating from the hut.

"Is the Acasia ready yet?" the man in the headdress asked. One of his robed subordinates nodded.

"It's boiling now," the man said.

"Then let's get started," he said.

Nami was grabbed by the arms and pushed down onto her back with a force that knocked the air from her lungs. She tried to kick the men who were trying to restrain her legs but she was weak from the entire ordeal she'd been through since falling overboard. They held her down easily and the blood that had been leaking from her mouth now threatened her breathing and she sputtered and coughed.

The man in the headdress was standing over her. Choking on blood, she tried to scream but it broke in her throat. One of the robed men standing near to her grabbed her throbbing jaw and held it in the open position as the man in the headdress leaned over her and began chanting.

"Silence. Obey. Silence. Serve. Silence…"

He began pouring the burning liquid into Nami's mouth. It seared layers off of her gums and tongue but she had to swallow it. The man who had been holding her jaw open now slammed it shut and plugged her nose so she had no oxygen. As the liquid scorched down her throat and esophagus she moaned in pain.

A staff connected with her leg.

"_Silence!_ Obey! Silence. Serve. Silence…"

Nami knew she was starting to hyperventilate. She couldn't pull in enough oxygen and the pain was becoming overwhelming. What she could see in the dim room was starting to skew and spin. Blackness threatened to take her again and for the first time in a long time, Nami considered letting it.

'I can't live through this,' she thought weakly. 'This is going to kill me.'

_As long as you keep on living, things will get better._

'I can't be a slave again,' she argued. 'I'm not strong enough to survive it again.'

Silent tears began dripping down her cheeks, but she didn't know what had spurred them to spill over her lids: the pain, or the realization that this wasn't a dream, she really was about to become a slave again.

The blackness creeped up on the edges of her sight, and she let it take her away.

.o0o.

Nami didn't want to look up. It made her dizzy to look up. She stared at the ground at the patterns in the dirt that were left by the feet of the men in charge of her torture.

That's what it had to be; torture. That foul, burning hot liquid being poured down her throat while they verbally abused her. They told her that she was no better than the bugs that crawled across the ground and across her toes. They spoke of the way that her voice was the sound of the devil and would corrupt the minds and souls of others, and that the only way to save the others from her influence was to silence her for good.

Then more of the searing liquid. It burned the scream right out of her throat. The words they said repeated over and over in her head, even when she was alone. And she was very alone.

No one looked at her except to abuse her or to degrade her. It occurred to her that she was outside in the sun; she could feel her skin begin to burn from overexposure. Part of her knew that she should be looking around and taking in her surroundings in order to plan her escape from this place but it was like there was a cold, wet blanket wrapped around her brain, slowing her ability to react properly.

She didn't even know how much time had passed since she'd washed up on the island.

"Now, don't name this one, Margol."

Two pairs of feet appeared in her line of sight.

"And keep her chained at all times. She has only had one day of the treatment and is still subjectable to her own thoughts."

One day? That's it? It felt like weeks since she'd arrived.

"She will do me no good if she cannot use her hands and arms."

"For now, you will have to watch her. Make sure you rectify her when she performs incorrectly. The early stages are when the training is the most crucial."

Something heavy clamped to her throat. The sound reminded her of chains. The thought saddened her, but did not surprise her. She fell straight forward into the ground onto her hands and knees as the heavy neck collar pulled her unexpectedly.

"Walk, servant."

Nami didn't recognize that she was the one being spoken to. Another sharp tug at her collar made it obvious.

"I said walk, pig."

Getting up from her knees made her even more dizzy and she weaved back and forth as she was dragged to a new destination. Relief washed over her skin briefly as she was led out of the sun and into a hut. Until she was whipped right across the burning skin.

Her throat was so hoarse from the liquid they'd been feeding her that she would have been surprised if any sound had come out from the pain. But none did, and that made her a little sad, too.

"On your knees, trash."

This voice. This voice was the one she heard the most in her head. It was old and it was deep and it made her cringe.

"You will spend the rest of the day here. You will obey Margol now. You will do everything he says without any hesitation whatsoever, or you will be punished. Speak, and you will die."

One pair of sandals left the hut and one pair stayed. Nami barely heard a whimper in the silence of the hut and for a brief second, her stomach iced in fear that she had made the sound.

"Look."

It was hard to focus on anything, but Nami tried to look where the man was indicating.

"That is my child."

Her eyes finally focused and she saw a tiny baby lying in a straw and animal skin bassinette.

"Taking care of that child is your _only_ responsibility today."

That confused her a little. The child was so young that it didn't do anything but probably eat, sleep and poop.

"And if that baby dies, you will die."

Another whimper escaped the child and Nami picked up how weak it was.

"Go. Take care of the baby."

What should she do? How should she take care of a baby?

"Pick it up!"

Nami crawled over to the homemade bassinette and reached in. The baby seemed warm to her, but she wasn't sure what the typical temperature of a child should be. The light, or lack thereof, made it hard to see so she scooted towards the doorway of the hut.

"Where are you going?"

She stopped when she got close enough to the light to see properly. Or, as well as she could, anyway. Her face felt so beaten and bruised that she wondered if she'd ever see anything properly again. The infant, who felt like it weighed nothing, disliked being brought into the light but Nami saw immediately what she needed to see.

The child was pale except for bright red cheeks, which meant it had a fever. Nami started to relieve the child of the confining animal skins it had been wrapped up in as the child began to wail.

"Stop it! Stop making my baby cry!"

She was trying. The child didn't like to be unbinded, but the heat that radiated off of its skin told Nami it had to be done. She pulled the child close to her chest and rocked it, hoping the baby would calm. It did a little, but it was apparently not enough for the father.

"You're useless!" he shouted. "You can't even take care of a baby properly. I should take you back to Gowen-sama and refuse you."

Nami was immune to his insults as she rocked the baby, feeling the cold fingers and toes that were accompanying the fever. Where was she going to find infant-sized gloves and socks? As she took stock of the small hut, she realized she'd have to fashion some.

Her shirt was in tatters anyway, so she pulled away pieces and wrapped them around the unhappy baby's hands and feet.

"What in God's will are you doing?"

She supposed that it looked a little weird, but she knew that the weaker someone was, the faster a fever could take them. Her range of movement was limited to what the chain and collar allowed her and that was less and less with each passing moment that the baby cried.

"Stop! Stop what you are doing!" Margol shouted. "You're killing her!"

There was no food in the hut that the baby could eat. What had this man been doing to this child? It was so young and so weak that Nami now realized what it meant that the baby could die that day.

The bleat of a goat outside gave her hope. She leaned her head out of the opening of the hut to see a goat tied next to it. Crawling with one hand holding the baby to her chest, Nami made her way out of the hut and over to the goat. The goat was trying to shy away due to all the commotion, but Nami grabbed one leg and pulled it toward her.

Nami blessed what little luck she had at seeing that the goat was able to give milk. It was probably the best she would get in her current situation, so she squirted a few drops of milk into her hand and dipped her finger into it. Rubbing her finger against the child's lips got the baby to latch onto her finger and almost instantly quiet. Relieved that it was working, Nami got more milk from the goat.

The man named Margol had stopped yelling at her in favor of observing over her shoulder.

"Goat's milk?" he murmured, watching the display. The baby began to fuss as Nami couldn't feed it fast enough. "Keep it quiet. And get back in the hut."

A few ounces of goat's milk weren't going to tide over the baby. Nami was in awe of the sheer stupidity of the man who claimed to be the father. Regardless, when he pulled her chain, she had to follow. Still weak, she crawled on one hand and knees back to the hut and sat down in a cool corner. The baby's fussing had gotten worse since Nami wasn't feeding it anymore, and that was bringing out Margol's temper again.

"I told you to keep it quiet. That's one of your responsibilities in taking care of it," he told her. "Give the baby your own milk if it's still hungry."

Nami stared at the man in confusion. Did he really intend for Nami to let the baby suckle to her own breast? Evidently he did, as he leaned down next to her and pulled up her shirt.

"Feed it," he commanded, pointing to her breasts.

How was she supposed to tell this man that her breasts wouldn't produce milk?

"Now!" he yelled, causing her to flinch. She still didn't move and Margol reached out and slapped her. It wasn't nearly as hard as the slap she'd received the day before, and when she looked through wincing eyes at Margol, he looked a little ill.

"Much yelling, Margol," a man observed, entering the hut. He glanced briefly at Nami before returning his attention to Margol. "This is your new servant?"

"Not for long," Margol pledged. "She doesn't even know how to take care of a child. She's refusing feed my baby even though I have ordered her to."

"I doubt she can," the man chuckled. "This servant doesn't look like she's bared a child before. She likely hasn't developed the ability to feed your son."

Margol looked down at Nami in confusion.

"Observe," the man said, leaning next to Nami. He reached out and grabbed her breast, squeezing tightly. She bit down on her tongue to keep from squealing, but could not help but pull away. The man next to her backhanded her hard and grabbed the other breast.

"No milk," he deduced. "She cannot feed your child. You should speak to Gowen-sama to see if you could exchange her for one who has milk to give."

"Thank you, Mynor," Margol murmured. "I will consider it."

Mynor left the hut. Margol looked at Nami somewhat ashamed.

"You cannot feed my child goat's milk," he told her. "You should find another way to feed it. Because there is not another woman on the island right now who has milk to give that I could trade you for. And if you have no use, you will be put to death."

Nami digested these words. She looked desperately around the hut again. There were a few browning cocoanuts in one corner, and though they were getting to close to the rotten side, Nami scooted over to them and picked the best looking one. She began attempting to crack it on another cocoanut, but all she managed was to make the whimpering baby cry louder.

Margol came over and pulled the cocoanut out of her hands and Nami flinched, expecting to be reprimanded. Instead, she heard a deep tearing sound, and looked to see the cocoanut torn in half. She took one of the halves from Margol, a little surprised at his suddenly helpful nature. She dipped her fingers in the whiteish liquid that lay within it, smelling it for any signs of rottenness.

Satisfied it was acceptable, she used her fingers to dribble droplets into the baby's mouth again. The baby protested only a little bit at the new taste, but mostly quieted again. Margol sat down on the ground across from her to watch.

"You don't look directly at me," he told her, and Nami's eyes dropped instantly. "You have to remember those things. Anyone else but me will reprimand you on the spot."

The reason why he didn't made Nami wonder.

"My child is three days old," he said. "My last servant died not long after giving birth, so my child has been without a mother the entire time. And tonight, it will be without you. So do your best to ensure that it survives until tomorrow. Because as I said before, if you do not have a purpose here, you will be put to death."

Nami rocked back and forth as the baby began to lull to sleep. She could tell this man wasn't like the others, but didn't want to trust that he wouldn't turn on her at a moment's notice. As silence filled the hut, Nami could hear a faint rasping sound. She lowered her head close to the baby's chest to listen and could tell that it was likely catching a cold. At that young an age, it would not likely survive it without care. And she was to be taken away during the evening.

Ill at the thought, Nami wondered if the child would make it 'til morning without her.

_Presently…_

Zoro downed the last of his would-be opponents in time to see the man called Gowen attempt to slash at him again with Sandai Kitetsu. He parried with Wado Ichimoji and countered with Shusui, earning a long cut on the forearm of the man. He broke away immediately, turning to his last standing companion.

"Yakeem, finish this one," he commanded. "I will dispose of that trash."

Gowen grabbed Nami's limp arm with his good one and began dragging her away from the fight as the large man known as Yakeem stepped in front of Zoro.

"God's will says that you will suffer for the crimes you have committed," Yakeem told him. Zoro settled into his two sword style stance.

"I don't believe in your God," Zoro spat. "But I do believe that someone here will suffer."

They charged each other.

_Forty-two days ago…_

Nami went directly to the animal skin bassinette to collect the baby as soon as she was brought to the hut. The baby was still weak and had snot covering its nose, as well as a crackle in the breaths it took.

"You will return her at sundown," Gowen instructed Margol.

"When can she stay through the night?" Margol asked timidly. "I fear that what good it does to have her here during the day is lost during the night."

"No good comes from having her here," Gowen told Margol lowly. "Get that through your head."

"Yes, Gowen-sama," Margol bowed.

"She is still too new," Gowen went on. "It will be a week before she can be tested to stay the night. Your son is strong and will survive without her during the night."

Margol bowed again and Gowen left the hut. Nami had taken the dirty clothes off the baby, seeing as it hadn't been done all night. She did a double take when the dirty linens came off. This child was a girl. She could have sworn that Gowen had just called the infant a boy.

There were no clean linens to be seen in the hut, so Nami wrapped the baby in animal skins and began peeling the snot away from the child's nose. It upset the baby, but little could be done about it since the snot was preventing the baby from breathing. Nami did her best to comfort the baby so the crying would stop quickly. In the corner, she saw a large pile of cocoanuts.

Apparently, Margol was okay with Nami feeding the baby cocoanut milk.

She crawled over to the pile and began rifling through them, looking for the ones that were at the right stage in ripeness. She found one and looked for something to split it with. Margol took the cocoanut from her and split it for her again with a hunting knife.

This man was definitely not like the others.

Nami began finger-feeding the baby again. He dropped a pile of dirty linens next to her.

"We're going to the well to get water today," he told her. "After, you'll clean and dry these. That and taking care of my baby are all you have to do today."

Sounded reasonable. Kind of. But yesterday, taking care of a baby all day had sounded reasonable and had turned out to be an escapade. After a few minutes of milk, Asha fell asleep. Margol deemed it time to go.

"Come," he commanded, standing at the foot of the hut. He had her chain in hand, but it was limp, in a silent agreement that he wouldn't pull it if she did as she was supposed to. Nami stood to follow, careful to keep her gaze low.

"Leave Asha here," he told her, pointing to the bassinette. Nami didn't move. "You have to leave the baby here because you'll need to use your hands at the well."

Nami had figured that part out on her own, but leaving the child alone was not an option in her mind. That seemed to happen too much as it was anyway. She looked at a long piece of linen on the ground and picked it up, using it as a sling to hold Asha to her chest. Margol looked as if he weren't sure if he wanted to object or not.

Apparently he decided it was acceptable and waved for her to follow him. The walk was quick to the well. Other women were there, presumably getting water for their own use, but they all cowered away at Margol's approach.

"Until Gowen-sama says so, you will only come here with me," Margol told her. He pointed to a bucket attached to a rope. "That stays here, so you will bring the bowl from my hut."

A shallow, but large bowl dropped to the ground in her vision. It occurred to Nami that she didn't realize he was carrying it with him because she'd kept her eyes lowered. It was a little disconcerting that she'd done that automatically without thinking.

"Get the water," Margol instructed. Nami looked at the bucket on the rope and decided it shouldn't be that hard as she lowered it into the well. That is, until she tried to pull it up. She couldn't lift the bucket without jostling Asha. Determined not to put down Asha, she untied her sling and awkwardly, but gently, moved Asha to her back and secured her there. Free to move her arms, the water was retrieved quickly.

She was pouring the water into their own bowl when the footsteps that haunted her consciousness approached. Other women who had been waiting for them to be done fell to their knees and bowed low to the ground.

"Margol, your servant causes too much commotion," Gowen announced. "Punish her."

Margol hesitated. "I do not understand."

"Punish her," Gowen repeated. "She ties your child to her back like a monkey carries its young. Is your son a monkey?"

"No, Gowen-sama," Margol answered.

"Then punish her," Gowen told him. Margol hesitated again, but finally walked over to Nami. She had followed suit with the other women and bowed down on her knees. Margol pulled her to standing. She stared at his feet as she waited to be reprimanded. He slapped her with an open hand.

"You do not equate enough force that way," Gowen chided. He came to stand next to Margol and grabbed his hand. "Fist your hand like so and pull your arm back behind your head. Now try again."

This time, when his fist connected with her face, Nami stumbled from the force.

"Better," Gowen praised. "Now take this abomination back to your hut and see to it she doesn't carry your son like a baboon anymore."

Margol nodded in compliance. Nami picked up the water bowl and followed his feet. Once inside the hut, she set the water down in the corner and began untying Asha from her sling. With shaky hands, Nami put Asha in her bassinette and then crawled to the corner. She pulled the dirty linens into the water and began rubbing them together, trying to agitate the stains out of them. Margol sat heavily onto the ground on the other side of hut with a loud sigh.

"Sorry."

She barely heard him.

"It's not my choice," Margol whispered, hardly audible. Nami believed him. The reluctance of the slap had told her as much.

_Thirty-five days ago…_

Nami woke at the sound of Asha whimpering. She quickly crossed the hut and retrieved the child from her bassinette of animal skins and looked for the reason the child was upset. It was clear as the baby rubbed her face against Nami's chest what she wanted.

Finger-feeding took too long now that Asha was almost two weeks old. The child was growing and demanded more milk in a quicker progression, so Nami had fashioned a bottle out of some bamboo and an animal bladder. It was crude, but Asha took to it quickly, making the tool's use more important than its looks.

She slept in Margol's hut every night now. She was still learning the routine of a woman in this place, but in the mean time, she was trying to figure out how to get off the island. She'd have to break the hurricane wall again, and though Sunny's mast had worked in a pinch, she preferred to do it in something a little more sturdy than that.

Especially since she would be stealing Asha.

Nami could not leave the child on this island. It was impossible. She could not fathom escaping this hell and leaving this tiny baby still within its grasps.

So, as she followed Margol around during the day and learned what was expected of her, Nami plotted an escape. Her best ideas involved sneaking away for a few hours a day to cut down some bamboo and tie it together to make some sort of raft, but didn't think she'd be able to keep the craft from capsizing once she hit the hurricane.

Another option was to find a large enough tree somewhere on the island that could be hollowed out and used as a canoe. That plan, like many of the others she could come up with, would simply take too long to accomplish, though.

Not to mention, she wasn't allowed out of sight of anyone she was around in the village.

Gowen, the man that haunted her days and her dreams, still came to check on her twice a day, too. If he thought she wasn't acting quick enough or obeying down to the letter, he'd order another dose of that foul cocktail. Just thinking about it made Nami's mind start to go numb.

And since she was new, the others in the village would look for her faults and correct them. Always by beating her. It was pure physical and mental torture day in and day out. She couldn't even remember how many days she'd been there for sure. But she could remember Asha.

Asha made her push to get through those days. She sometimes wished she could die, she sometimes wished she could run away, but she didn't because of Asha. That baby was becoming her world and Nami didn't mind.

_Twenty-nine days ago…_

Nami could hear Asha crying. She had been able to hear it for two days. She wanted to get to Asha, needed to comfort the child and make sure she was okay, but she couldn't.

Nami was being punished.

One of the other villagers, Mynor, had caught her using Margol's hunting knife in the hut to open cocoanuts. The use of a knife by a woman was forbidden, and she had to be punished.

Punishment was to hang her from her wrists and whip her for three days. Today was the last day. She would be able to return to Asha today. Nami didn't even flinch anymore when the whip cracked against her skin. It was all okay. She'd be able to hold Asha today. The sun burning her skin didn't matter either. She'd be with Asha today.

'I'm coming, Asha,' Nami chanted within her thoughts.

She didn't feel her wrists being cut down from their bindings, nor the feel of hitting the ground. Someone dragged her down the familiar path to the huts and tossed her in one. She didn't feel that either.

She felt Asha's soft skin beneath her hands as she lifted the baby out of the bassinette and comforted her. She felt the insistant numming of the baby's mouth on her thumb as a request for food. She felt Asha's breathing against her hand as she held the make-shift bottle up for the baby to suckle.

She felt her chapped lips kiss Asha's head affectionately, and that's all she needed to feel.

* * *

**A/N:** I originally intended to upload all of this chapter at once. But then, in review, I realize it was just too big and needed to cut it in half. Since this half is done, it's getting uploaded. HOPEFULLY the second half will follow sooner rather than later...


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N:** A little angst-y towards the end. Oh well. Same rules apply as last chapter...

* * *

**Chapter Nine**

_Twenty one days ago…_

Asha was strapped to her again. The elders didn't like it, but Nami would not leave the hut without her. Margol spent quite a few days convincing them that it was not a bad thing, but few of them believed him. She'd carry Asha to the water well and back to the hut, then to the edge of the village to collect cocoanuts. She was not allowed beyond the village.

Margol took her to different places now. There were larger huts scattered about the village where the men met, while the women huddled outside trying to stay out of sight. This is where she met Elos and Mina. Elos and Margol had a very close relationship, akin to brotherhood. The two of them spent most of their time together. Likewise, Nami spent much time with Mina.

Mina, like all other women on the island, had been born there. She inherently knew how to behave, what was acceptable, and what not to do. She tried her best to help Nami learn those things, but without the option of speech, it was difficult.

It took two days for Nami to realize why Elos and Margol were so close: their child, Moises, was also a girl. To the elders, Moises was a first born son, which is expected of every man in the village to produce. If the first child born was a female, it was put to death. The idea made Nami sick.

In desperation for their children's lives, they lied about their genders. Likely, it would be close to ten years before anyone would begin to be able to tell the difference. But Margol and Elos were not the first to come up with such a plan. Others who had children that were probably seven or eight years old were hiding their genders. Only one of them would have to be found out before the elders would demand a check on every child.

The situation was desperate. It was no longer just Asha's life at stake. Nami could not just whisk her away in the night and leave everyone else behind. There had to be some sort of plan. But a mass exodus was not easily accomplished.

The best she could hope for was a ship to sail into the eye of the storm. A large ship would be able to withstand the forces of the hurricane and give the large number of them shelter. But waiting for such an option was very risky, since as far as she'd learned, no ships had sailed there in the years of the elders or anyone else alive.

The only other option was to build their own ship.

Nami was far from a shipwright. She couldn't build a ship on her own, even with a number of years to accomplish it. The best she could do was to somehow show Margol how to do it. That would be a challenge in itself.

Writing was forbidden there, and so as a result, reading was not known either. It did Nami no good to be able to write anything, even if she'd had the paper and pen to do it with. She hoped, though, that something else would prove to be the bridge between the two.

The bark from cocoanut trees was very thin and pliable. The men used it mostly for making ropes and binding, but Nami had another idea. She found as wide a strip as she could and stole some burnt pieces of wood from the fire pit and began drawing.

She drew as basic as ship as she could. She drew it at different angles, she drew it with scale comparisons, and she drew the materials needed. She only hoped Margol would understand.

He burned the picture as soon as he saw it.

"That is forbidden!" he hissed. He paced in the small hut, agitated. "Do you understand what will happen if they find anything like that here?"

She had an idea of what would probably happen.

"Never do that again," he warned her. "Ever."

She flinched at his tone. He hadn't been that upset with her since the first day.

_Seventeen days ago…_

Margol led her through the jungle down a well worn path.

"This is where you will go to catch fish," he told her. It was the most he'd said to her since the day she'd shown him the drawings. "I will ask Gowen-sama's permission to allow you to come here."

The jungle gave way to an expansive beach of white sand. If she hadn't been in the predicament she was in, Nami might have admired its beauty. Her eyes scanned across the blue sea to where it turned gray. It literally appeared to be a wall of storms there.

"God's Wall," Margol announced.

Nami could see why these people would think an act of God kept the storm from moving over the island. The storm probably hadn't moved in over a hundred years. Maybe more.

"You may not go out any further than here," he instructed, walking out to knee deep. "Any farther and you will be in danger of being eaten by sharks."

Nami realized how lucky she was to have not had that happen to her when she first broke from the storm.

"You will catch no less than three fish," he went on. "And no more than five. And there are cocoanuts over there."

He pointed along the beach where some cocoanut trees grew. Those looked more ripe and healthier.

"Come," he commanded, waving her back toward the path. She followed, keeping her head down watching the dirt path as she walked over it. He suddenly veered from the path and she was caught off guard.

"Do not make a sound," he whispered, pulling her reluctantly by the arm. Nami could control herself, but Asha, on the other hand…

They silently made their way through the dense jungle. Ahead, Nami could hear quiet voices talking.

"Look," Margol breathed in her ear. A small clearing ahead showed several robed men working on something made of wood. The shape was crude and not what she was used to, but she easily identified it: a ship.

Margol was pulling her away before she could get a better look at it. Once they reached the path again, they made their way back to the village. Nami followed him into the hut, where she unstrapped Asha and set the child in the animal skins.

"When it is complete," Margol said, "we will use it."

He had to be talking about the ship.

"It was never an option before," he continued. "None of us know how to use it."

Margol sat down next to her.

"But you do," he whispered. Realization set in. He wanted her to sail them away from this island. It would be dangerous, but it was better than any of the other alternatives she'd come up with so far.

For the first time in a long time, Nami had hope.

_Thirteen days ago…_

She was freezing. Her entire body shook from the cold. And the wet. There was water everywhere. Where had the water come from?

She tried to swim against the water that was starting to encompass her. Her arms and legs wouldn't move at all. This water was paralyzing. She could only feel the freezingness of it as it seeped into her bones.

"Oi. Whatcha doin'?"

Her eyes came to focus on a skinny boy with black hair and tanned skin. He moved about in the freezing water without difficulty. As if the water didn't exist at all.

"Whatcha doin' here?" he asked, smiling. When his cheek rose, it pushed up a scar that rested under his eye on one side. "This is stupid. Let's go."

He held his hand out to her. She wanted to take it, wanted to be free from the paralyzing cold that surrounded her, but she still couldn't move.

His face twisted goofily in confusion when she didn't take his hand. He reached closer to her, so close that his fingers brushed against her wrist.

"Come on, let's go," he whined impatiently. He waggled his fingers near her as if to entice her. She couldn't even twitch her fingers to reach him.

Frustrated, the boy with the scar huffed and dug his hands into the pockets of his shorts. He paced back and forth in front of her and glanced at her now and again.

"Just reach. A little bit," he pleaded, straining to get hold of her hand again. Once again, his finger tips brushed against hers and she wanted so badly to take hold of them. Every time his hand ghosted over hers, she felt the sensation of warmth and safety for the briefest moment, before it skirted away again and paralyzed her with cold.

"Please, Nami."

That was her name. She'd forgotten it. No one had said her name in a very long time. The sound of it brought slight feeling back into her limbs. When he reached for her again, her fingers twitched, touching his for the briefest moment. His eyes lit up in happiness.

"Reach!"

She was going to grab his fingers this time. She could flex two of them enough to take hold of his hand. She was going to take his hand.

A loud wail ripped the boy with the scar from her view and replaced it with blackness. She blinked a few times before she realized that she was in Margol's hut and it was the middle of the night. The wail rang again and she jumped up and sought out the unhappy child.

Asha was wet. She needed new linens. In the dark, Nami changed the baby's soiled clothes.

_Nami…_

That was her name. She'd forgotten it. Just like she had forgotten the boy with the scar. She couldn't remember his name, but she could remember that he was safe. He was warm. In her mind's eye, she pictured him but could not make out the blurry faces that stood behind him. Instinctively, she knew they all belonged together, though.

Asha was cooing quietly now, but not in the mood to go back to sleep. Nami held the baby close and played with her, but still thinking about the boy with the scar. He was important…

Asha yawned and cuddled to her chest. The memory of the boy with the scar slipped away without her realizing it.

_Nine days ago…_

"I hate this place," Margol said out of the blue. He knew she was listening even though she didn't move. "Ever since I was a child, all I've ever wanted was to take Aiesha away from here and start a new life far away from this domesticated hell."

Margol turned to her. "I know you're smart. And strong. You'd have to be to make it through the hurricane to this island. You are, in a lot of ways, like my mother. Defiant until the bitter end."

"She washed ashore on this island about thirty years ago," Margol continued. "She was given to Gowen-sama by his father. Forced into this barbarianistic way of life when he got a hold of her. You only spent two weeks being trained by Gowen-sama. Imagine the fifteen years she had to endure…"

Against her better judgment, Nami looked over at Margol. It was obvious that he was reminiscing about something deeply painful.

"I am the reason she's dead."

"_She's dead because of us!"_

Those words Nami had screamed at Nojiko after one of their fights about keeping the secret of why Nami had joined Arlong's gang.

"Do you have any idea what it's like to watch your mother be killed in front of your very eyes?" Margol asked with a hitch in his voice. He shot a brief glance in her direction in time to watch her clutch to her tattooed arm and drop her head.

"You do, don't you?" he whispered. It seemed like he wanted to ask her something but remained silent. After a few minutes, he lay back down and closed his eyes. "It's just so odd that you come to me the way you did and are so much like my mother."

Silence filled the space between them for several minutes.

"What makes you keep going?" Margol wondered aloud. "How can you go through this day after day and not want to slit your own throat and get it over with?"

Asha cooed at Nami and she smiled brightly at the baby, tickling her.

"You love her, don't you?" Margol observed. Nami's hand gently caressed the baby's cheek and ran through her soft, blond hair. "You love her like she's yours. Like you are her mother."

Yes. That felt right. She was Asha's mother. The name that had been there before slipped away without her notice. When Asha gave a big yawn, she lifted the infant to her shoulder and began rocking back and forth.

"You wouldn't leave here without her, would you?" Margol asked quietly. She only paused slightly as she rocked. Margol glanced outside of his hut briefly and crawled over next to her. He leaned close to her ear.

"If the opportunity presents itself," he whispered, "take it. I would not have her grow up here."

She, Asha's mother, placed a gentle kiss on Asha's forehead.

"Do you understand me?" he whispered again. Asha's mother gazed lovingly at the baby that was now asleep in her arms.

"Yes," she breathed back.

_Presently…_

He had to find her. He had to find her. He had to find her.

It was Luffy's mantra as he ran through the streets. He'd search every single one of them until he found her if needed. A baby wailed off to his left a ways. He veered his course and headed to the sound, praying that Nami would be there with the baby.

Margol ran clutching his child to his chest and looking behind him, so he didn't see Luffy until he nearly plowed into him.

"Where is she?" Luffy demanded, taking in Margol's panicked look. Margol was breathless as he tried to answer.

"Back there," he managed to spit out and pointing towards the market area. "Gowen-sama is there—"

Luffy didn't stay to listen. The sounds of a building being destroyed were calling him towards a battle that was in progress. A splash of red caught his eye, though, and he stopped.

There was blood on the ground. Fresh. And it was in a trail leading away from the sounds of the fighting. Going on his gut, Luffy followed the red drips. Ahead of him, he could hear labored breathing, as well as the sounds of something being dragged across the ground.

It was the peacock guy. He wore different clothes, but Luffy recognized him instantly. He held one arm close to his chest as it dripped the bloody trail with a sword tucked beneath it, and the other he used to drag the lifeless form of his navigator. Blood boiled beneath Luffy's skin as he stretched an arm back and let it fly.

The peacock man lost his grip on Nami instantly as he was punched into a nearby building, sending spider web cracks up the side of it with the force. Luffy ran to his navigator and pulled her into his arms, checking for signs of life as his opponent crumpled to the ground.

She was breathing. Luffy let loose a sigh of relief and looked over to the peacock man. Blood now streamed down his face from a wound on his forehead, giving him a sort of grotesque appearance.

"God's will says that one is mine," he gurgled out, attempting to charge at Luffy. He made it two steps before he was tackled from the side. Rubil stabbed the man in the gut as they tumbled.

"My God's will says you will die today," Rubil growled. "Care to find out whose god is right?"

The peacock man managed to stand, holding the wound in his stomach. "You look familiar to me."

"And I will be the last thing you ever see," Rubil predicted. The peacock man smiled venomously.

"Your mother was called Layla."

Luffy watched as all of the color drained from Rubil's face.

"_Your_ God's will took her from you and _my _God's will sent her to me," the peacock man said. "She was quite useless, though, as all women are. But she bore me a son, which is the only thing that kept her alive for fifteen years. She was quite stupid, though. Never learned that she was never allowed to speak. Even as I beat her to death, she cried out."

Rubil rushed forward in blind rage. The peacock guy slashed at him with the sword he held and caught Rubil across the chest, but it did not stop the enraged man. Rubil used his knife to slit the other man's throat, even as the sword dug deeper into his chest.

Both men fell to the ground, unmoving.

Luffy stood with Nami in his arms and approached the two. Rubil groaned and attempted to roll over.

"You still alive?" Luffy asked, picking up the sword. He didn't remember which one it was, but he knew it was one of Zoro's swords.

"Alive is questionable," Rubil answered. "Breathing, yes."

Rubil managed to maneuver to hands and knees, and then stagger somewhat to standing. With a grimace, he began walking back towards the dock. Luffy followed him, knowing Zoro could take care of himself.

As if to prove Luffy right, the fight that Zoro had been in also made its way toward the docks in time for the rest of them to arrive. As Chopper attended both Nami and Rubil, Zoro sent his last opponent flying out towards the sea. As he joined the rest of them near Sunny, Chopper fussed over the hole in Zoro's stomach.

"Oi, Zoro," Luffy called. He tossed his first mate the sword he'd picked up. Zoro easily caught it, staring at it with a smirk on his face for a moment, before sheathing it next to the other two.

"Gowen-sama?" Margol asked quietly.

"Dead," Rubil answered. Relief spilled from Margol and the other refugees that had fled the island. "Bastard."

Shaky legs would no longer support Margol and he dropped into a heap on the deck, clutching Asha to his chest.

"It's over," he whispered. "It's really over."

Silent sobs wracked his shoulders as he began rocking back and forth.

"What will we do now?" asked one of the refugees. Elos looked down at Margol and then back to them.

"We will live new lives here," Elos told them. "Somehow."

A silent understanding that they would need a little help readjusting made the looks in their eyes become pleading.

"We're leaving," Luffy announced, still carrying an unconscious Nami. The pleading looks between the refugees now became desperate. Margol snapped out of his stupor and rushed to him.

"You can't leave right now," he pleaded. "This is too sudden. None of us know what to do."

Luffy shook off his arm and kept heading for the gang plank of Sunny.

"For the sake of our nakama, we need to put as much distance between us and this island as possible," Sanji told him. "You knew this was coming."

Margol knew the argument was lost, but still looked desperately around him. When his eyes fell on Rubil they flinched, knowing that after the Mugiwara Pirates left, he would be their only hope. Rubil realized it too and his lip curled in disgust.

The crew was ascending the gang plank in silence, wishing nothing more than to be gone from the twin islands that had permanently left a bad taste in their mouths. As if knowing that there was about to be a parting, Asha began to wail loudly.

Nami woke from unconsciousness and was confused by her surroundings. She broke from Luffy's hold and began searching the deck of the ship frantically. When she reached the rail and looked over, she sank to her knees. The ship had already pulled away from port. In a desperate attempt, she stood and made to climb over the railing and throw herself into the bay, but she was stopped by Robin's sprouting arms.

_Two days ago…_

It was morning routine for Asha's mother to strap the baby to her back and go to the bay. She'd collect fresh cocoanuts there and spear a few fish for the day's meals. No one protested her wandering alone about this island anymore, as long as she stayed on the path. They knew she couldn't break God's Wall.

The cocoanuts were fairly difficult to collect, since the ones that fell to the ground usually cracked once they impacted, and she needed the whole ones that still had liquid inside them. Once in a while, she'd find whole ones on the beach, but for the most part, she'd have to climb into the trees to get them down. But out of habit, she went to the beach first to see if any had fallen into the sand whole.

A quick scan of the beach told her no, there were no cocoanuts, but it didn't matter. She waded out into the water to her knees and slowly dipped her spearing wedge in the water, waiting for fish. There was a splash a ways away from her, and she figured it was a shark breaking the surface.

Got one. Patience would usually pay off for her if she didn't let herself get distracted. She heard more splashing and ignored it, since it was driving the fish towards her and making it easier to catch them. Got another.

"Nami?"

She started at the sound of…was that her name? She couldn't remember. But surely, it was just her imagination. It couldn't be real. She checked the beach behind her for any sign of someone who may have spoken. It was empty. Yes, her imagination was getting to her.

"Nami."

She looked up in front of her. There was no mistaking it that time. It was_ his_ voice and it was in front of her, not behind. Her eyes went wide as she saw the boy with the scar on his cheek standing only a few feet away from her.

"Nami!"

She flinched at the volume in his voice and dropped the fishing spear. Fear was filling her insides and she backed up a little, still convinced she was dreaming it all. Yeah, that was it. She'd climbed the trees for the cocoanuts and fell, hitting her head and knocking her unconscious. That was why she was dreaming of him again.

He cocked his head to the side, puzzled. Nami looked over her shoulder again at the trees, wondering when one of the elders to step through them and declare her as running away.

"Nami," he said again, quieter this time. She stared at the water where it rose at his shins and lapped there, feeling the overwhelming urge to flee.

"Nami, are you okay?"

The small, childlike voice came from the reindeer on top of the shoulders of the others, who were close. So close that if she reached out her hand, she could probably touch them. They all had familiar faces like the boy with the scar, but she could not remember their names. She could not even remember why they were familiar; why she was put somewhat at ease at the sight of them and made the fear slip away like the rain sliding down her skin.

She made a timid step forward.

"Let's get out of here." His hand was extended towards him. If she took another step towards him, she would be able to take his hand.

Asha began to cry. Loudly. It made the fear return and skyrocket until her feet backpedaled away from them.

"Nami, wait!"

This wasn't a dream. This was real! She was going to be caught and punished! She had to get back to the village. If they caught her here with them, she'd be put to death for sure. Asha too.

Asha…

"Nami, where are you going?"

She stopped, recalling what Margol had said to her about a week before.

"_If the opportunity presents itself, take it. I would not have her grow up here."_

She turned back to them, staring at the boy's outstretched hand. She could take Asha and go with them. She couldn't remember what was beyond God's Wall but she could remember that it was better. That these people were better.

"Let's go back to Sunny," he suggested. "You can tell me what's going on."

She wanted to tell him yes. She wanted to go with him so badly. She wanted to scream it from the top of her lungs. But no sound would come out.

"And what do we have here?"

Fear locked around every muscle in her body and she dropped to her knees. She tried to make herself as small as possible in the shadow of the man whose voice haunted her entire existence.

"Useless woman," Gowen spat. She could hear his footsteps coming from the tree line to stand over her. "I should have had you put to death when you washed up on this island."

She could hear more feet. The other elders had come as well.

"If Margol hadn't just lost his servant the day before, I think I would have killed you then," Gowen continued. "Well. That's nothing I can't rectify now."

"Gowen-sama," Margol called out, somewhat out of breath as though he'd been running. "What is the meaning of this?"

"Do you not see it with your own eyes, Margol?" Gowen asked. "Your servant was escaping. With your own son as it were."

"What do you mean, servant?" the boy blurted out. "And she's not escaping. She belongs with us. We're her nakama."

"Nakama?" Margol repeated.

"This woman belongs to our village," Gowen proclaimed. Nami could hear the people who had stood in the bay walking out of the water to stand on the beach next to the boy.

"Like hell she does," one of them challenged.

"We saved her life," Gowen calmly explained. "Therefore, we own the life we have saved. It is our decision on what to do with that life hence forth."

"What?" the boy asked.

"My decision," Margol interrupted hastily. "She was given to me so she is my responsibility. She does what I say and she goes where I choose."

"Fine, Margol," Gowen snidely responded. "Tell your servant what to do and where to go."

"Stand up," Margol snapped. Nami flinched before rising to stand. She kept her head dropped, not wanting to upset the crowd of elders any further than she already had. Asha still whimpered every now and then, but for the most part was quiet. Margol lifted his hand and pointed down the beach. "Walk."

Hurriedly, Nami walked off in the direction that Margol had pointed. He followed, but was a little taken aback when one of them followed.

"Where are…what are you doing?" Margol stuttered, sounding unsettled.

"I'm not letting her out of my sight again," the man stated. "Where she goes, I go."

Though it didn't please him, Margol didn't argue and with a wave urged Nami onward. Her brisk pace had her around the tree line in a matter of moments. Her head snapped up as she scanned the water, looking for something.

There. That was it. The boy had called it Sunny. And she knew from the sight of it that it would take her away from this hellish place. She unstrapped Asha from her back and searched for something, anything that she could put Asha on to float her to the ship. Her eyes fell on Margol and the man who'd followed them.

"I should gut you right here," the man was saying as Margol was on his knees, begging.

"Do what you must," Margol said, though his voice trembled. "Just take them both and leave this place. Please, take them both."

The man was angry, but for some reason, Nami knew that was just part of who he was. Nami knew that Margol hated the ways of this place and didn't deserve death for wanting the best for his child. She walked over and put herself between the two of them. The man was startled, but determined.

"Let's go, Nami," he told her. "Let's go back to the ship and get the hell away from this place."

Margol was pushing her to go with him, but she grabbed his hand and held it firmly. She wouldn't leave without him. She wouldn't leave him in this place. The man finally seemed to understand. He picked Margol up off his knees by the arm.

"You swim?" he asked. Margol nodded. "You get her to that boat. I'll head them off. Hurry."

Margol nodded again and waded into the water with Nami. She swam faster than him, but would pause momentarily to let him catch up. Asha, blessedly, was being very quiet as Nami held the child above water while swimming. It was as if she knew it was in their best interests.

Nami swam to the place that had 'Channel Four' written across it. The port door opened for them, allowing the two of them to swim into the ship itself.

"Nami!"

She started at the sound of her name again. This one, the skull, could not contain his enthusiasm. He rushed to her with his arms wide open.

"Your panties!" he cried. She cringed from the nameless fear again. The skull stopped, his arms dropping slowly.

"Nami?" he said again.

It was too much to comprehend. Too much to bear. She began to feel her body shaking with silent sobs. Her face was already wet, otherwise she would have felt the tears fall. This place was safe. She was safe. Never again would she have to hear the sound of that man's voice. She'd never feel his staff beat her for the simple fact that she was a woman.

She barely felt Margol pull her to her feet and direct her out of the channel. She collapsed in the hallway, still clutching Asha to her chest as exhaustion hit every part of her being. They were safe. They had made it away from there. They were going to be okay.

_Presently… _

Asha was slowly disappearing into the distance. Desperation was filling Nami as she lost sight of Asha altogether. Would she be safe? Would she be warm? Would she be hungry?

Asha was Nami's purpose in life. She was the reason she lived. The reason why she got up every day and endured the hell she'd come to know as life. And she was out of sight. The feeling made her ill. She dropped to her knees again, at a loss of what to do.

The boy with the scar was lifting her back up to her feet. The large island that had Asha was becoming smaller. So much so that she could barely discern it in the distance. Cold rain began pelting down on her shoulders.

This. This was wrong. It was taking her away again. Tears fell from her eyes and mixed with the rain and she collapsed again. The boy with the scar took her over to an overhang that shielded her from the rain. It didn't help the feeling of desperation and loss that was consuming her. Her shaky legs wouldn't support her, and this time when she fell to her knees, the boy with the scar let her stay there.

The rain came for hours, washing her away from Asha. Even when the rocking of the ship calmed and the rain stopped, the hole in her chest was still there. She was numb except for the feeling of pain in her chest. She saw the boy with the scar take her hand and pull her to standing, but did not feel it. She watched as he led her up some stairs to an open deck that had trees growing there, but could not feel the steps she took.

Her body folded as he sat her down next to the trees, but she could not feel the deck beneath her. The boy held a small, orange fruit in front of her and spoke. She could not hear the words that were said. She was numb. He tried to put the orange fruit in her hand, but she could not feel it. This must have been what it felt like to die.

.o0o.

Luffy put the mikan into her hands. He had to force her fingers around it to ensure that it didn't drop right away. Even as he let go it threatened to fall to the deck but managed to teeter on her fingers. Silent minutes passed by before anyone ventured a word.

"What do we do now?" Ussop wondered aloud.

"I don't know," Chopper admitted. "I've looked in every one of my books. I don't…"

Chopper's bottom lip began to quiver. "I don't know how to cure this."

Robin placed a comforting hand on the little reindeer's back as he began to sniffle.

"Maybe," Sanji began, lighting a cigarette, "we should take her home."

The rest of the crew turned and stared at the cook.

"You do realize that if we take her there," Zoro commented, "that she may not leave."

"Yes, you crud bucket, I realize that," Sanji snapped. "But if she was happy there…"

They turned back to Nami, who hadn't moved at all.

"If she was even a glimmer of the woman she once was," Sanji continued, "I could live with it."

"No, I don't want to," Luffy put in. The others looked at him. "You all saw it. She was happiest here. She should stay with us and she will remember it."

"I'm afraid that it does not work that way," Robin told him. Luffy would not have it.

"This happened when she was away from us," Luffy insisted. "Now that we're together again it will get better."

"And what if it doesn't?" Ussop asked.

Luffy had no real answer. The best he managed was, "It's just gonna."

As if to defy him, the mikan finally toppled out of Nami's hand and rolled to the edge of the ship where it fell into the sea, drifting quickly far beyond their reach.


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: Well, I decided to finish this. Though only 3 people reviewed chapter 9. Pretty sad. Had no idea if anyone actually liked it. And yes, this is the last chapter.

* * *

**Chapter Ten**

In the end, Luffy had only been able to convince the rest of the crew to keep Nami with them for six weeks.

"It took six weeks for her to get like this," he'd argued.

"She's been brainwashed, Luffy," Robin reminded him. "It is not something that can be bandaged and heal in a couple days."

"I know," Luffy nodded. "That's why she needs to stay with us. The longer she's with us, the better she'll get."

"Six weeks," Chopper interjected. The crew all turned to look at him. "In a way, Luffy is right. It took six weeks for her to become like this. In six weeks time, we should know if she's ever going to recover."

"It's decided then," Sanji said. "In six weeks, if she's not improving, we will take Nami back to Cocoyashi Village."

"It's not decided!" Luffy yelled, startling them all. "We won't give up on her. If it was any one of you, she wouldn't give up on you."

"Luffy," Zoro began quietly, "you wanted Nami to come with us because she's the best navigator in the world, right?"

Luffy's nostrils were puffing loudly with air but he didn't answer.

"Right now, she won't even look at a log pose, let alone give us a course heading," he continued. "Without her, we won't survive here. And I doubt any of us would even consider replacing her."

As Zoro let Luffy digest those words, the rest of the crew nodded their heads in agreement.

"So it's safe to say that if she doesn't recover and we have to take her home," Zoro finished, "that it will be the end of the journey."

"Sadly, I do agree with snot-head," Sanji said as a vein popped in Zoro's forehead. "Without all of my nakama to share my dream with, it just doesn't seem that important anymore."

Finally, Luffy understood what his crew meant. They were not abandoning their nakama. They were refusing to go on without her. That, he realized, he could live with too.

.o0o.

In the next four weeks, Luffy spent almost every waking moment with Nami. In the mornings, he'd collect her from Robin and take her around the ship, telling her about all the things he and the crew had done, or a minute story about how she had clobbered them all because they'd done something ridiculous. Nami remained silent at his side, never making any indication she'd heard him at all.

At lunch, he'd sit across from her and steal food off everyone else's plates but hers, since she barely ate her own food and he didn't want to take away anything she might eat. Afternoons would be spent on the grassy deck, describing the odd games he, Chopper and Ussop participated in. She'd always stare off towards the ground and hide her eyes.

After dinner, he'd sit her by the mikan trees, which were beginning to wilt. The crew was trying their best to keep the trees alive, but after nearly three months without care from Nami, they seemed to be giving up.

"Please say something," he begged one night. She was sitting at the base of the trees as he lay on his stomach facing her. "Anything."

She was silent.

"I don't care what it is," Luffy promised. "Just say something."

The wind blew her bangs in her eyes again.

"Even if you say you want to go home," he whined quietly, sitting up. It was the last thing he wanted to hear, but as long as he _heard_ it, he'd accept it.

He tried to brush the hair out of her eyes and she flinched. This upset him more than anything.

"Damn it," he muttered, standing and walking away. His temper was flaring and he didn't want to show her that, since it was apparent that she was already afraid of him. He stood at the railing and looked back at her, feeling failure creep into him.

How could he fail at this? He was supposed to save his nakama from this and there she was, sitting a few feet away from him, but he couldn't save her. He could touch her hand but in all other sense of the word, he couldn't reach her. The battle was taking place within her and he could not participate.

He walked back over to her. The wind continued to blow her hair about her face, but she paid it no mind. A cold rain began to pelt down onto them, and Luffy reached for her hand to take her below. She followed with little goading, always staring at the ground.

"Looks like it's going to be another rough night," Franky predicted, collecting rope to tie down things out on the deck.

"I think we're sailing in circles and keep hitting the same storm," Ussop ventured, helping the shipwright. Luffy walked Nami to the galley, where Robin would be.

Robin could tell that her captain was stressed. The days were taking their toll on everyone, especially since they'd seen little to no improvement whatsoever. Still, it had taken six weeks to find her. If they'd given up on finding her after only four, they'd have never found her. That was the thought that carried them on.

Robin finished her tea and led Nami to the bathroom. Robin had hoped that by talking to Nami and showing her that she wouldn't be harmed in any way if she spoke would have helped. It had almost an opposite effect, though. The first days when Robin talked to her, Nami had cringed and looked about in fear, as though afraid to be caught. Robin tried talking to her in front of Sanji, but it had been worse. She'd hidden in the corner in terror.

But Robin didn't give up. After three weeks, the miniscule improvement of Nami not being fearful when Robin spoke had been achieved.

"Shall we use the lavender soap tonight?" she asked. It was on the off chance that Nami gave her a nod or shake of the head. "I recall that lavender helps one to sleep peacefully."

Nightmares had been a problem, too. Nami would wake up in the middle of the night in a panic, searching about the room for something or trying to hide in fear. Neither of them had gotten a good night's sleep in the last month.

The spacious bathroom had a soaking tub that was large enough to fit their entire crew, but much to the dismay of certain crew members, the ladies preferred the room to themselves when they bathed. Robin poured the lavender salts into the tub as it filled with warm water, then pinned her hair up on top of her head.

She stripped her own clothes off before setting about doing the same with Nami. She could have ordered Nami to do it herself, but Robin felt like that would be a step backwards, and opted for trying to negotiate the navigator out of her clothes.

"You don't want to take a bath in your clothes, do you?" she asked. It was always some variation of this. So far, the only thing Nami had managed to do on her own was take off her shoes, and Robin suspected it was because the shoe mat was next to the bathroom door.

Nami always had to be led where they wanted her to go. It was rare that she would take any initiative to do something on her own at all. Robin took her hand and led her into the warm tub. She sat opposite of Nami in the tub, relaxing in the warm water as Nami did the opposite.

She'd always sit ramrod straight. She'd watch the water as it lulled back and forth in the tub from the waves of their ship, some nights more tumultuous than others, depending on the storm.

"I miss the nights of a calm sea," Robin mused. "We have had very few in the last four weeks."

Truth, they'd had none.

"Perhaps, if there was an island nearby…"

Robin left the statement open ended. She watched carefully for any movement that would indicate that Nami felt the slightest stabilization in pressure. Nothing.

Robin picked up a wash cloth and began rubbing it across her skin. Though she didn't want to give up, it was wearisome sometimes to try to get Nami to remember how things had been before. How she'd been before. She couldn't even imagine the depression her captain must have been suffering with each passing day. And yet every day, he continued trying.

"Come," Robin said suddenly, shaking herself out of the momentary lapse of self pity. "Let me wash your back."

Nami's only movement was to turn so Robin could reach her back. It wasn't much, but at least Robin didn't have to do it for her. Nami's back was still a pink, patchy mess of scabs and scars. The heathens on the island had beaten her and accosted her on top of the wounds that were already there, making it difficult to heal. Likely, these scars would be there for life.

"You once told me that scars were proof that if you live through something, things will get better," Robin mentioned, gently soaking her back. She thought she caught Nami giving her a curious look out of the corner of her eye. "Please don't give up on that ideal. Because we haven't given up on you."

.o0o.

Every day, the boy with the scar on his cheek talked to her. She knew he was talking to her, but she couldn't hear him. It was as if her ears were clogged. He would walk her around the ship and speak to her all day and all night, but she couldn't hear him.

Today was an exception.

After lunch, he had left her on the deck by the lawn chairs by herself and went to sit at the front of the ship. She couldn't help but think it was because she'd done something wrong, but she didn't know what it could be. She'd been quiet, she'd kept her head down, and she'd followed behind him wherever he'd taken her. She'd made herself small as to be unseen and ate only enough to keep her stomach quiet. Those were the things she was supposed to do.

Left to herself, her eyes wandered cautiously across the deck. There was very little movement around it, save for one thing. The man with the swords practiced on the deck across from her. Every day he could be seen out on the deck practicing different moves with his swords.

But today, instead of stopping after finishing the usual moves he practiced, he'd started over again. She watched out of the corner of her eye with her head lowered as his skin became wet with sweat and the sound of his breathing became louder.

It shocked her that she could hear it.

Curious, she watched him a little more closely, raising her head slightly. Too closely. He noticed. He waved her over with one sworded hand. Terrified that she would be reprimanded, she dropped her head down and stayed where she was. It didn't work. The man came over and pulled her to stand.

He was talking to her. His voice was muffled, as the boy with the scar's had been. But he seemed insistent that she comply. He placed one of his swords in her hand and held her fingers around it.

It was slightly heavy. The worn handle scratched against her palm. It reminded her of something.

Her eyes went to the far railing. She walked to it and looked over. New wood mixed with older wood dotted the hull there.

The man was next to her again.

"Do you remember falling?"

The words were so shockingly clear that she started and dropped the sword. It clattered on the deck loudly and she panicked, reaching down to grab Sandai Kitetsu.

That was its name. Sandai Kitetsu. It belonged to Zoro. That was the man who was in front of her. She looked into his eyes and remembered him.

He reached his hand out towards her and she flinched, dropping her head in fear. She shouldn't have looked him in the eyes! It was wrong! She was going to be punished!

The man named Zoro was speaking to her again, but she could no longer hear what he said. She huddled in a ball next to the railing until the boy with the scar came to retrieve her.

.o0o.

"Who has her Clima Tact?"

The quiet dinner became even quieter when the crew regarded Zoro's question.

"I do," Ussop finally answer. "Why?"

"I think we should give it to her," he answered, jutting his chin at Nami.

"So she can accidentally call a typhoon to destroy the ship?" Sanji countered. "I doubt that is a good idea."

"If she does call a typhoon, you should thank your lucky fuckin' stars she remembers how to do it," Zoro snapped back. "It's better than her standing around all day like an empty shell."

Sanji bit down sharply on his cigarette. "And what makes you the expert so suddenly?"

"I'm just saying that nothing we've done has been working," Zoro corrected. "We need to try something new. Something stronger."

"And what if we damage her instead?" Sanji asked. The crew seemed content with the idea of letting the two argue it out and simply looked back and forth between them.

"You think she can get any more damaged?" Zoro put forth, pointing at her, ignoring the fact that she flinched. "I don't think it's possible to make it worse."

Sanji had no answer for that.

"What's the worst that can happen?" Zoro asked. "She doesn't get better? She's not getting better right now. What have we got to lose?"

"Let's do it," Luffy decided. He stood from the table and ushered Nami out of the galley. He took her to the grassy deck and waited for Ussop to retrieve the Clima Tact. Nami wouldn't even let them come near her with it as they crowded around her, and she huddled on the ground in a ball.

"See, shit head?" Sanji spat. "She's freaking out."

"Listen, dart brow," Zoro growled, "it's a work in progress. And I don't see you attempting to do any better."

"Maybe because I know she's been through enough trauma, snot hair," Sanji argued. "And that forcing her to do things she doesn't want to do isn't going to make it better."

Seeing as Nami wouldn't touch the Clima Tact and Sanji and Zoro were going at it, the rest of the crew gradually began to disperse. Robin retired to her lawn chair, while Chopper followed Ussop to the upper deck. Brooke went in search of his violin and Franky went to inspect the repairs on the main mast.

"Forcing her might be the only way," Zoro disagreed. "Your passive, pansy ass shit hasn't gotten anywhere in the last four weeks."

As Luffy watched the quarreling idiots, Nami's gaze wandered the floor of the deck until it fell on the feet of Franky.

.o0o.

The man with the iron fists looked tired. Whenever she saw him, he was either at a meal with them or fixing the ship. Right now, he was looking at the large column of wood in the center of the ship. Like the hull had before, it also had patches of new and old wood adorning it. Timidly, Nami stood and walked over to it.

This had saved her, she realized as she ran her hand over the new section of wood. It was the main mast. The main mast of Thousand Sunny. Thousand Sunny was the name of the ship that they sailed on. It was built by Franky. Franky was the man with the iron fists.

The information was coming at her in a wild rush. While she tried to make sense of it, the sounds of scuffling grew clear to her ears.

"Say it again, you son of a bitch!"

"I said you like her like this, don't you?"

"Bastard! Fucking dirty bastard!"

"You like it when she's helpless so you can take care of her!"

"Take it back you rotten piece of shit!"

Zoro and the cigarette man were going back and forth across the deck in a dance of kicks and swords. The name of the cigarette man came to her from nowhere: Sanji. He was the ship's pervert. He cooked well, too. The kicking of his feet against Zoro's swords was bringing her long gone feelings.

This was normal. This was right. They would fight and they would be loud, and eventually, it would stop. Recalling how it usually stopped, Nami walked towards the two who fought, unmindful of her growing closeness in proximity.

.o0o.

"I'll kill you, you ass-licking, scrotum smelling, bottom feeder!"

"What did you say, you perverted, over-acting, closet homosexual?"

_Bam!_

Both men dropped to the grass and clutched their heads. They looked up in contempt that turned into wonder to see Nami standing over them with balled fists and a smile on her face.

She laughed.

It was brief and her own hands came up to cover her mouth in sudden fear, but it was too late. Luffy came bounding over with a huge smile on his face.

"That was awesome!" he cried, lifting her up in the air and swinging her in circles. "That was so great!"

The others were coming to join him, but Nami was regressing back to her fearful self.

"And she's gone again," Sanji muttered in frustration.

"It worked, though," Zoro pointed out, wiping away some blood on his cheek.

"Your solution did not work," Sanji disagreed. "I believe that is what started this little scuffle."

"How do you know the 'scuffle' wasn't part of the plan?" Zoro countered. Sanji stared at him, unfazed. "Okay, it wasn't. But it worked."

"Determining exactly what 'it' is would be important," Robin observed.

"It's us," Chopper spoke up. Everyone turned to the little reindeer.

"What's us?" Ussop asked.

"Us," Chopper repeated, excitedly. "We're what stopping her from remembering how she used to be."

Everyone looked confused.

"When's the last time they fought like that?" Chopper asked, trying a different approach. "Or the last time we spent the evening drinking?"

"It _is_ us," Robin agreed. "We haven't been the same either. Just like Nami, we have been affected by her absence in a way that we don't realize."

"So what should we do?" Brooke asked.

"Be us," Chopper answered.

"You want us to bring out a barrel of ale?" Ussop asked, unconvinced.

"We have lost our exuberance," Robin deduced. "Our taste for the adventurous life. Nami will not remember the way she used to be if we are not the way we used to be."

"The whole crew's suffered a break down, not just Nami," Franky realized. Robin nodded in agreement. The others caught on slowly, a look of recognition passing through each of them.

"We'll start tomorrow," Sanji suggested. "Robin-chan, will you please take Nami through her normal morning routine?"

"Of course," Robin agreed. They dispersed, letting Robin take over care of the invalid. Nami timidly followed Robin away and down into the lower decks of the ship.

.o0o.

_Day One_

"Good morning, Nami-san."

Robin watched as Nami sat up groggily in her bed, the dark circles under her eyes a tribute to how much sleep was gotten from the previous night.

"I do believe the weather will be quite nice today," Robin predicted, walking over to her closet. She rifled through some items before pulling out a sleeveless sundress and a large hat. "Shall we spend our morning soaking up the sun?"

Expectedly, Nami didn't answer. Robin walked over to stand next to her bed, holding the sundress against herself.

"What do you think?" she asked. Nami's eyes remained trained on the floor. "Or perhaps I should keep things simple with shorts and a tank top. What will you wear today?"

Again, no answer. If Nami even chose to change her clothes at all, it would be a first. She'd been content to wear the tattered clothes on her back when they'd first left the ring maze, and finally Robin had taken it as an opportunity to get her into new clothes after their evening bath.

"You have yet to wear the new dress you purchased back on Kuroki Island," Robin put forth. "Today may be an excellent day to christen it."

Silently, Nami rose from her bed and went to her wardrobe. She pulled the orange and yellow dress from its hanger and then pulled off her night gown. Robin smiled triumphantly. She hadn't ordered Nami to change her clothes. She'd only suggested it. It was a step in the right direction.

_Day Two_

At breakfast, Sanji put a slice of rye toast and mikan jelly in front of Nami, followed by a cup of tea. He knew how she preferred her tea and could have easily put the milk and sugar in it for her, but recalled that she sometimes chided him for adding too much for her tastes. With that in mind, he simply set the milk and sugar within reach and went on serving the others their breakfasts.

"Steak?" Luffy asked, mouth full of eggs and bacon that sputtered out at his question.

"Eat what you have, piggy face," Sanji ordered, smacking him in the face with a napkin. "Such manners are intolerable."

"More oatmeal please!" Chopper called, standing on his chair and holding up his empty bowl.

"Alas, I cannot enjoy such pleasures as steak and oatmeal," Brooke lamented sadly. "Due to my old age, they just go right through me."

If eyes rolling could be heard, it would have been the only sound in the room.

"Skull joke!"

Several groans piped up around the room.

"Oi, oi," Ussop complained. "You're over ninety years old. Learn some new jokes."

"Hey!" Franky cried. "Who stole my bacon?"

"Like you need to ask," Zoro muttered. "Eat faster."

"Oi! Gomu no piggy! Leave their food alone!" Sanji bellowed from the kitchen.

Amongst the chaos, Nami sipped her tea comfortably.

_Day Three_

"Steak?" Luffy asked, looking up at Sanji with a mouth full of pancakes.

"No, rubber lard-ass," Sanji spat. "You eat everyone else's food off their plates and expect me to give you more? I should let you starve."

"Stingy," Luffy muttered sorrowfully, while eyeing Robin's bagel. It disappeared behind a wall of hands that Robin erected. He groaned as he scoped the table for other snatchable food. His eyes fell on Nami's toast. Despite what the crew had said about being themselves, he couldn't bring himself to steal it from her. Too many things had been taken from her lately and he didn't want to add to them.

_Day Four_

"And so I, brave Ussop, one arm broken and the other dislocated, trekked bravely across the expanse of the mountain," Ussop lied, waving his arms to accentuate the grandness of his tale. "I would not be stopped from bravely looking for my prize. I tirelessly walked bravely for days as I explored the mountain. Bravely."

Chopper sat in doe-eyed wonder of Ussop, who was sitting on the lawn chair with Nami.

"Really?" the reindeer asked, his muzzle hanging slightly ajar.

"For sure," Ussop nodded.

"Bullshit," Franky commented, walking by with an armful of planks. Ussop deflated a little.

"Okay, so maybe it wasn't a mountain," he amended. "But it was huge! The size of my entire hometown."

"Really?" Chopper asked, still doe-eyed.

"Absolutely," Ussop agreed.

"Wappol's castle was bigger than your entire village," Sanji pointed out, bringing them drinks.

Ussop deflated a little more.

"But I was brave! Brave as a wild lion hunting a bison," he tried again.

"Wow," Chopper gushed, now with stars in his eyes.

"I believe you used the phrase, 'If someone will save me, I'll turn myself in and give you the reward money,'" Zoro added.

Ussop deflated completely and fell across the lawn chair in desolation. His head turned to look at Nami, who sat motionless on the other end of the chair, staring at the grassy deck.

"You believe me, don't you Nami?" he pleaded, bowing his head and clasping his hands together in prayer. He received no answer, but when he glanced up, a small smile was on her lips briefly, before it danced away again in a flash.

_Day Five_

"Oi! Why do you just sit there all day? Give us a course heading!"

Nami sat silently on her lawn chair as Zoro yelled at her across the deck.

"Or do we need to bribe you?" he guessed. He got up and crossed the grassy desk to stand next to her. "A hundred berries for a course heading? A thousand for a weather report?"

A breeze slid gently across the deck and ruffled Nami's loose hair. Zoro sighed.

"A million for a smile?" he suggested quietly. "A billion for a laugh? We'd pay it, you know."

And then some.

"I wouldn't even complain about four hundred percent interest," he added, walking towards the center of the deck to practice.

_Day Six_

"Orange panties!"

Nothing.

"Polka dot panties!"

Still nothing.

"Frilly panties!"

Nope.

"Crotchless panties?"

A brief fit of red flashed across Nami's cheeks and nose before it disappeared again.

"Brooke! What the hell are you doing?" Sanji barked, walking over to the two of them.

"Trying to guess what kind of panties she's wearing," Brooke sing-songed. "If I do, then I get to see them."

"She agreed to that?" Sanji asked, doubtfully.

"No, but—"

Sanji kicked the violinist to the other side of the boat. "Perverted afro-bones."

_Day Seven_

"Steak?" Luffy asked, propelling pieces of biscuits from his mouth.

"For the seventh and final time," Sanji grumbled, "no."

"If that's the final time, then do I get steak tomorrow?" Luffy asked, picking up enthusiasm.

"If you can find a cow wandering around in the ocean, then so be it," Sanji answered, exasperated. Luffy whooped in triumph and began stealing food off the plates of everyone at a blinding pace. Until his hand was stabbed.

"Ow!" he shouted, yanking fruitlessly at his hand, which was pinned to the table under a fork. He looked pathetically up to the owner of the fork, and patheticness turned to wonder.

Nami sipped her tea quietly, ignoring his twitching hand only inches from her toast. Luffy's eyes scanned everyone else's in a flash to confirm that none of them had done it. Their shock at his pinned hand affirmed they hadn't.

Zoro suddenly laughed loudly. "Serves you right, bottomless-pit-boy."

Other chuckles began to erupt from around the table.

Luffy's wonder began fading and was replaced by pouting. "Can I have my hand back please?"

_Day Eight_

They were running low on wood. A few more nights of this and Franky'd run out of materials to repair the ship. The quaking nights of storms and restless sea had to stop soon, or Sunny was going to start to suffer pretty badly.

He kept his thoughts to himself, though. It was hard enough forcing the nightly drinking parties. The only ones who seemed to really get into it were Zoro and Sanji, who battled each other nightly to see who'd suck down the most ale.

"Brooke! Play Ussop's courageous ballad number three hundred sixty seven!" Ussop cried, half hanging over the railing from the upper deck, a mug of ale sloshing with his movement.

Apparently he'd gotten into it as well, tonight. Franky sighed.

"Tired?"

Franky glanced at Robin, then went back to watching the rest of his crewmates.

"No more than you, I'd guess," he answered. "Do you get any sleep at all these days?"

"My fair share," she admitted. "Though Nami gets less, I am sure. Sometimes it is understandable that our exuberance is suffering. We are all exhausted."

Conversation paused while Ussop led an idiot train consisting of Luffy, Chopper and Brooke noisily across the deck. Sanji walked with Nami out of the galley and came to join them sitting near the table.

"Oi! Asshole! You're late! And already three drinks behind!" Zoro bellowed from next to the ale barrel.

"Or maybe you're catching up to me," Sanji countered. "Since you dropped off first last night. I drank three after you passed out drunk in your own drool."

Sanji stood and joined his drinking rival at the barrel.

"I wonder how long our ale supply will last with the two of them," Robin mused. Franky grunted noncommittally and finished his own mug. Robin watched Nami as she gazed over the port of the ship into the darkness. Clouds always seemed to be covering the moon these days and made it impossible to see where the ocean met the sky anymore.

Until the lightening came. It streaked across the sky in spider webbed patterns. The rain would be along any time now.

_Day Nine_

Nami wasn't in her bed. Robin didn't bother to change before going in search of her. It was still early enough that the only person who should be up was Sanji. Robin went to the galley first, but Nami wasn't there. Sanji joined her in her search, but it was unneeded. Nami was leaning on the railing on the main deck, watching the sea as it passed under the ship.

Relief filled Robin. Nami was dressed and ready for the day and hadn't needed any goading. It was progress.

_Day Ten_

"Who was up last night?"

Almost everyone at the breakfast table looked up at Franky.

"Huh?" Ussop voiced for them.

"Who kept watch last night?" he reiterated. Blank looks passed between them.

"No one?" Chopper guessed.

"Impossible," Franky denied. "Didn't anyone notice that we didn't pass through the storm last night?"

Silence suggested that no one had.

_Day Eleven_

Sitting on the lion's head, Luffy let the breeze rustle his hair and clothes. It was as close to normal as things would get. He looked down at his bandaged right hand and half smiled. He hadn't even meant to steal her toast but it was good that he had. It had proved that he wasn't wrong about her.

Nami was still there, and he was going to bring her back.

"Oi! Gomu no turd! Get your ass in here for lunch or I'll feed it to the gulls!" Sanji yelled from the galley. Luffy hopped down from the lion's head and propelled himself to the other end of the ship. He saw Nami leaning against the railing.

"Hey, Nami," he called, strolling over to join her. "You hungry for lunch?"

One day, she'd answer him again. For now, he was happy that she would just turn to look at him in acknowledgement.

"Come on, I'll give ya a lift," he added, reaching out to grab her around the waist and lift her over his shoulder. She was as rigid as a board at first, but by the time he'd carried her to the galley, she'd relaxed enough to hold onto his shoulders instead of push them away.

_Day Twelve_

"She still hasn't said anything," Zoro pointed out.

"She is making improvement, though," Sanji put forth.

"There's only two days left," Ussop sighed. "How do we decide if she's better or not?"

"She is better," Robin said. "But not back to normal."

"Do we take her home?" Chopper asked.

"How do we even get her there?" Franky wondered aloud.

"We're not taking her there," Luffy argued. "Not unless she wants to go."

"And how do you suppose that we find out if she does?" Sanji snapped. "Like shit-head said, she hasn't spoken at all."

"If she wants to go there, she'll take us there," Luffy insisted. "She's our navigator. We go where she takes us."

"She hasn't been taking us anywhere," Franky reminded him. "We don't even know where we've been going."

"Don't give up on her!" Luffy demanded. "We can't give up on her!"

"We're not giving up!" Zoro shouted back. "But we can't go on like this!"

"I will!" Luffy stated. "We won't take her home! Not unless she wants to! And anyone who argues with me can go jump ship now!"

All of them looked at him in shock except Ussop.

"Yeah, you're right," Ussop shrugged, wandering away from the tense argument. "I'm not jumping ship just because she hasn't said anything. It'll come."

The others looked between each other, reaffirming their resolve.

_Day Thirteen_

They were arguing about her again. She knew it was about her. It was always about her. She felt shame that they did. She tried to be good and do as she was supposed to but it was a lot harder these days. She'd smiled and looked at them and taken it upon herself to do things. She was being far too rebellious.

She needed to be punished.

No one here would, though. No one would punish her for the bad things she did. No one would correct her behavior and as a result, she was becoming worse and worse. She had already laughed once, and if she wasn't careful, she may end up speaking.

The thought sent a chill through her.

She wasn't supposed to speak. If she did, she'd be killed.

_As long as you keep on living, things will get better_

She had to keep on living. Even though it was the last thing she wanted to do now that Asha was gone, she had to. A feeling deep inside her soul was forcing her to. Compelling her to. She couldn't give up because of it.

"Whatcha lookin' at?" the boy with the scar asked, walking over to stand next to her as she leaned over the side of the ship. His words were almost completely clear to her these days. Once in a while she'd have trouble hearing him, but for now, he simply sounded to her like she was trying to hear him through a closed door.

The boy with the scar. Try as she might, she couldn't remember his name. It was lost to her.

"I like to sit on the lion's head," he told her, pointing to the ornamental figure at the front of the ship. "I can always see what's headed my way there."

Interesting concept, but Nami stayed where she was. She was watching the clouds near the horizon and wondering why she knew what they were going to do. The wind would pick up in a few minutes and a squall would overtake them if they didn't adjust the sails and catch a headwind away from it.

"Are you happy here?" he asked quietly. So quietly, she had trouble hearing it.

Happy? No. Happiness was little hands and fingers grasping hers and giving her bubble and spittle filled smiles.

"Do you want to go home?" he asked, looking heartbroken at the thought.

Home? Yes. Home was a small hut that shielded her and Asha from the hot sun during the day and allowed them to spend hours on end just looking at each other.

"To Nojiko and the ossan?" he added.

Who?

_Bellemere loves us! Even if we aren't her real kids!_

_The way she held you, the day she brought you home, I knew everything would be alright for you two._

Those voices were clear as a bell in her head. She recognized them, but couldn't put faces to them. And then there was that name: Bellemere.

_Nojiko, Nami, I love you!_

Nami felt as though the wind had been knocked out of her. That voice! It was the voice that kept her alive. Kept her pushing each day and living through it. That was Bellemere. The face of a thin, hard woman with magenta hair buzzed into a mohawk came to her suddenly. Her hair was tied at her neck and she grinned widely, clutching a cigarette in between her teeth.

"Hey! Nami! What's wrong?" the boy with the scar asked. She vaguely registered him trying to pull her back to her feet. She hadn't realized that she'd dropped to her knees. "Please don't cry!"

She was crying? That must have been why her cheeks felt cold when the wind blew.

"Okay," he sighed, pulling her into a hug. "We'll take you home."

_Day Fourteen_

Breakfast was silent again. No one even bothered to make small talk anymore. Not since Luffy had announced the night before that they were taking Nami back to Cocoyashi. Before anyone could ask about the sudden change in their captain's determination, he'd uttered that she wanted to go. And like that, all hope fell away from them.

Nami didn't eat at all. She simply sat in her chair with silent tears falling down her cheeks. The sight of her vanquished any hope that they might have had that their captain was wrong.

_Day Fifteen_

It had been a rare occasion when Luffy had ever been prevailed upon to sit still in the library with Nami. Before, he'd usually been chased out by her within two minutes of entering because of his rambunctiousness. However there had been one or two occasions where he had managed to behave while she worked on a map. Once, he'd even asked to see the maps that she'd made.

She'd filed them all into a waterproof cabinet, in order of latitude and longitude. There were hundreds of them. When he'd asked how she'd made so many, she told him most of them were from memory, and pulled out a very old and bloodstained one to show him.

It was Cocoyashi. The first map she'd ever made. It was important to her. So important, that he knew exactly where she kept it in the cabinet. He retrieved it and went back down to the main deck where she sat listlessly on her lawn chair.

"Here," he said, handing it to her. For a moment, she didn't even register that he was talking to her, but eventually, her eyes saw the map he held out to her and grasped it.

Her hands lightly ran over the various lines of the map, studying them briefly before moving onto the next one. Her finger fell onto a grouping of three trees drawn around and X and next to a house. Her eyes flew to the upper deck where her trees were, then fell back down to the map.

He sat down next to her on the lawn chair and put his head in his hands. "This isn't how the journey is supposed to end."

_Day Sixteen_

The ship rocked back and forth as it narrowly avoided cannonball fire. Behind Thousand Sunny, Smoker's ship was in hot pursuit of them.

"I suppose we should count ourselves lucky that he didn't find us before," Franky commented, trying to rein the helm. "We've been wandering aimlessly for almost two months."

"He's gaining!" Ussop cried, trying to return fire from the back of the ship. "Can we use the coup d'vent?"

"Not enough soda," Franky denied. "We're going to have to face him head on."

.o0o.

The Mugiwara Pirates. To find them out here, only forty or fifty leagues from the Calm Belt was odd, Smoker decided. They tended to stay on the path of the Logpose, so seeing them this far out was a surprise.

Not that he wouldn't take advantage of it.

Before dawn had even come, he'd gotten within two or three leagues of them and opened fire. He attributed the lack of return fire or fight to be due to his unexpected attack. The closer his ship got to theirs, he could tell they were gearing up for a hand to hand fight.

Fine with him. It was more enjoyable to crush your enemies with your hands rather than cannonballs.

He let a few dozen men board their ship before he crossed on himself, watching his men double and triple team each pirate and still fall. Pathetic, but not unexpected. He and Tashigi were probably the only ones on his ship that would be able to take pirates of this rank down.

As he sauntered across the deck of the ship watching the battle, Smoker's gaze fell on the orange haired pirate, Nami. She looked confused at the chaos of the battle, choosing not to join in and instead, acting as a wallflower near the stairs. Intrigued, Smoker ambled toward her.

"Hey!" Luffy yelled, hopping down from the upper deck and landing between them. "You fight me!"

There was something in the way he said it that made Smoker believe that this pirate was not engaging him due to some ridiculous form of pride, but more in desperation. He raised his eyebrow in fascination.

"Fight you?" Smoker repeated, letting the mist-like smoke billow from him and envelope the pirate. "Hardly. I will utterly defeat you."

The gray cloud of smoke suddenly levitated with its detainee and floated to the side of the ship. A rubber hand shot out of the all encompassing smoke, but in the wrong direction and could grab no purchase as the smoke cloud suddenly receded and dropped the rubber man towards the sea.

Smoker heard the splash rather than saw it, since he was watching Nami the Cat Burglar again. She still looked confused, as though she couldn't figure something out. She was looking to the side of the ship where he'd tossed the Strawhat. Confusion turned to panic, and she sprang from the wall towards the side. He caught her wrist in her pursuit.

She flinched and cowered in his grip, completely catching him off guard. This was not what she was supposed to do. She was an expert lock picker and evader of capture. That she could be caught and would simply give up so quickly was wrong. He let go of her wrist.

Instead of running again, she stayed cowered before him, hiding her face in shame. What was this behavior? It confused and somewhat irritated him. Smoker knew this pirate was not like this. He took a second, more careful look at her.

She was thin. Her hair was stringy. Her skin was pale except for angry pink marks peeking out the top of the collar of her shirt. Further inspection of the ship showed that it had taken on a lot of damage recently. The once green trees that had flourished on the upper deck were nearly barren, and even the faces of the other pirates seemed drawn and full of exhaustion.

This crew was suffering internally. This was not the Mugiwara Crew that he had vowed to capture. This was a ghost of that crew, and was in limbo it seemed. Desire to capture this crew washed away immediately.

"Fall back," he ordered his crew. Though no one verbally questioned him, his crew gave him odd looks before obeying and evacuating back to their own ship.

.o0o.

The shadow that had been cast over her was moving away. Fearfully, Nami hazarded a glance in front of her and saw nothing, and upon raising her head a little further, saw the man in the white coat walking away from her.

Desperation returned to her immediately. She had to jump ship! She had to!

The boy with the scar had disappeared over the side nearly half a minute ago and hadn't returned. It seemed odd to her at first until she recalled that he couldn't swim, which was what now made her desperate to reach him. She dove over the side of the ship into the water.

Despite the sun high in the sky, the water was cold and the salt stung her eyes. The deeper she went, the less light there was, but she kept going down. Straight down. That's where the boy with the scar would have gone. He'd have sunk like a rock.

A minute had to have passed by now. Very few would be able to hold their breath that long and Nami kicked her legs even harder, knowing that if she didn't reach him soon, the boy with the scar would drown.

A sandal!

She reached for it, but it wasn't attached to a foot. She propelled herself deeper. There! A red vest! It was him.

His skin was cold. Colder than the ocean. His eyes were closed and his mouth slightly ajar. He was unconscious. She couldn't worry about it now. She had to get up to the surface. She launched herself up towards the light that seemed very far away now. Her own lungs were beginning to burn due to lack of oxygen, but she wouldn't give up.

Finally, she broke the surface. After a big gulp of air, she returned her attention to the boy with the scar, who was still unconscious, though water was pouring out of his mouth and nose. He didn't take a breath.

Panic. Overwhelming panic. This boy was going to die. He was going to die in her arms, floating in the ocean with her.

No! She'd give anything for this boy to live! He had to live! She'd do anything!

Anything?

Would she give up her own life in exchange for his?

Yes. Unquestionably, yes.

Beat the water out of his lungs and call his name. These things would surely get her killed, because they were the two most forbidden things: beating a man and speaking. But she had to! If she didn't, he'd die! The boy with the scar simply could not die. She knew it was true, even at the cost of her own life.

She raised her hand and fisted it, then brought it down on his back hard. His body jolted against hers and more water poured out of his mouth, but he still didn't take a breath. She beat his back again. A choking sound, but still no intake of air.

Call his name! Scream it!

I can't remember his name!

This boy, who had to live, had saved her so many times, but she couldn't remember his name. He had saved her from the pirate Buggy. He'd saved her from the terror of her home village, Arlong. He'd carried her up a mountain in search of a doctor on Drum Island. He'd come for her and faced Eneru on his flying fortress.

All these things came rushing back to her suddenly, bombarding her. This boy had never left her. He'd been with her on that horrible island Lytheria. He'd come to her in her dreams and had reminded her what her name was and reminded her that she had to make it off Lytheria. He'd stood in the shallow water of the bay and held his hand out to her, promising to make things better.

His name was Luffy.

"Luffy!" she cried, bringing her fist down onto his back again. A grunt and cough came out. "Luffy!"

This time, heavy coughing wracked her as she clutched him close, determined not to let him slip beneath the surface and choke. Deep, crackly breaths poured in and out of him as his eyes fluttered open.

"Say it again," he gargled, still spitting out water.

"Luffy," she whispered, watching him smile.

"Louder," he pleaded, resting his head on her shoulder.

"Luffy," she said again, feeling him smile and then chuckle.

"Awesome," he sighed, then began to snore.

_Day Seventeen_

"Say it again," Luffy begged, sitting on the grass in front of her lawn chair. "Please?"

"Luffy," Nami whispered.

"Now mine!" Chopper pleaded, bouncing as he sat next to Luffy.

"Tony Tony Chopper," she spoke quietly.

"Silly! You saying my name is nothing to me!" Chopper sang, dancing around the lawn chair happily.

"Oi! Oi! Leave her alone! You guys have been bugging her all morning," Sanji scolded, handing Nami a drink. "It's time for her to say my name!"

His eyes filled with hearts as Sanji dropped to his knees before her.

"Ero-cook," she smiled. Sanji deflated instantly, while boisterous laughter rang up from the other side of the ship.

"Serves you right, pervert!" Zoro called, leaning against the rail of the ship in the shade. Sanji glowered, but returned his attention to Nami as she laughed quietly.

"Sanji-kun," she said, watching him melt into a puddle of devotion.

"Ah, Nami-swan!" he cried. "I am in heaven, for your voice is surely that of an angel's."

Nami smiled and leaned back in her chair, closing her eyes. She listened to the sounds of the crew moving about the deck and going about their daily lives, her ears completely clear and unobstructed for the first time in months.

**Epilogue**

The wind lightly rustled Nami's hair. It promised of an afternoon shower, but nothing serious. It would water the grassy deck as well as her trees on the upper deck.

Her trees.

They were finally starting to bud again. They'd nearly lost all of their leaves when she had picked up the pruning shears and watering can. It had taken a couple weeks of tender loving care, but the mikan trees were on the mend and would possibly blossom some fruit in a month or two.

It was the promise of a new beginning.

Things couldn't go back completely to the way they were, simply because the lack of attention and care had changed them permanently. The trees would be scarred barren near the trunk, but grow bigger and stronger with time and effort. And eventually, the change would no longer be noticeable to anyone who didn't know of it.

Not unlike herself.

The care she gave to the trees was like a metaphor for how her crew was rehabilitating herself. Their endless patience with her was an unspoken form of love, it felt like. Even Zoro, who usually didn't talk to her unless he was arguing, showed lack of complaint while she worked through forgetting the programmed behavior.

She owed them all her life in so many ways.

It brought tears to her eyes to think about it. They'd spent almost three months looking for her and trying to repair the damage that had been done to her, blatantly refusing to give up on her when it had been absolutely hopeless.

Hopeless.

She knew it had been, at one point, because that's how she'd felt. Hopeless.

Even now, when she thought of the baby Asha, her heart twinged with worry. When they'd first left, she'd felt like the world would end. It hadn't, and she'd gotten better, thanks to her nakama, but she would always wonder about the little baby she'd cared for those long weeks.

Was she okay? Was Margol able to support her? Was she eating enough? Was she warm enough?

Endless questions plagued Nami, usually at night, when her crew wasn't gathered around her and helping her move on. It was hard to fall asleep when she was worrying, and when she did sleep, she dreamt of the child being left on her own. Needless to say, Nami hadn't gotten good sleep in a long time.

"Oi! Nami!"

Ussop was calling to her, waving something over his head.

"The news gull came and brought the paper," he told her, handing her the bundle. "Wouldn't leave 'til I paid for it, even though the paper is a couple days old."

"Old news is better than no news, I suppose," she shrugged, no longer fearful that words would mean her death. In the weeks since the battle with Smoker, she'd remembered what life was like before they'd ever gone into the Ring Maze and more, recalled how life was supposed to be. "So much has happened in four months that I feel out of the loop."

She took her paper down to the lawn chair and sat down, scanning the stories for what she wanted to read first. She felt something plop lightly down on her stomach and saw a small, white envelope there. Confused, she examined it to see that there was nothing written on it to address it to someone, but it was sealed as though it had been meant to be mailed.

Curiosity ebbed at her, and she tore off one side of the envelope and pulled out a stained paper with messy scrawling on it. Automatically, her eyes searched for an addressee, and then could not stop reading.

_Nami,_

_I am sure that your crew wouldn't approve of me writing you. That's why I bribed the news gull, in hopes that it would reach you. Rubil said the gull came daily to the ship, trying to deliver a paper and that your cook had said you'd been an avid reader. If I am wrong, and this letter falls into one of their hands, I don't think it will ever make it to yours. But hopefully someday, one of them may read it to you, despite their feelings about me, or still better, you will be able to read it yourself._

_There is so much to say; where do I begin?_

_With you, I suppose. There are so many things that I never knew about you. I never knew you were a navigator and a thief. I didn't even know your name until your crew members mentioned it aloud. But not even knowing that, you were so important to me. Not just me, Asha too. And Elos, and Kartil, and Meyani. Everyone. If you had not come to us, I truly do think our children would be dead._

_I mentioned that once to the swordsman, Zoro. He didn't find any comfort in that, though. He believed that what was done to you had no justification. I agree, it doesn't. But because you came to us and endured it, we were able to have a better life. That's what I'm trying to say, I suppose. Thank you for suffering and eventually making our lives better._

_I still hear his words. 'Small consolation.' I doubt there is anything I could say that would make your swordsman hate me less. Or your crew. I truly believe that Zoro would have killed me that day on the beach if you had not intervened. Even through the doses of Acaisa and beatings from Gowen, you still tried to save the life of a man that you had no reason to care for. I don't think I will ever be half the person you are._

_Asha misses you. The first week you were gone, she cried day and night. Nothing could be done to console her. I feared that I would once again lose my daughter, but the kindness of Rubil has been staggering. He made it a personal mission to see her smile again. He cares for her as if she was one of his own kin, and even let me stay with him until I got myself in a position to care for her properly. He taught me reading and writing, and spends hours a day with Asha, determined to see her smile and laugh._

_He is a better father than me. I try, though. He is gruff, but encouraging to me as well. It was his idea for me to write you. I believed that you would want nothing to do with me ever again, but he told me that writing you would bring a kind of closure. In a way, it has. I can tell you how I feel, how much you meant to me, how grateful I am to you and yours, and you won't hear it as an order. You'll hear it as a sincere expression of gratitude. _

_I must tell you before I send this that Asha has begun to crawl. It brings me a kind of joy that I don't think I can express in words, but I think that if anyone in this world would understand the feeling, it would be you, her other mother. You _are _her other parent, no question about it. You loved her in a way that only a parent could. I promise that when she is old enough, or when she asks, I will tell her the truth: she had two mothers._

_Aiesha gave birth to her and gave her life. You cared for her and saved her life._

_Always thankful and forever in your debt,  
Margol_

With shaking hands, Nami refolded the note and put it back in the envelope, catching it on something else within it. Nami took out the picture, a small smile coming to her lips. It was Asha, sitting up on the floor. She was holding a small ball and smiling widely, flailing little chubby arms at Rubil, who was playing with her.

She was happy, healthy, and perfectly fine.

A huge sigh escaped her, along with a few tears. But the tears weren't from pain, but rather joy. Yes, Rubil had been right; Margol writing to her had been closure. She could go on, not wondering if everything would be okay. She knew now that it would.

She sat back in her lawn chair, holding the picture and letter close to her heart. Her eyes closed willfully and within moments, she was peacefully asleep.

**~End**

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A/N: Please be kind and review. I'll love to know what you think.


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